Fall Paper Plate Wreath

If there's 2 things I love it's in this world, it's fall and a simple craft. My kiddos had so much fun making their very own fall wreaths to take home to their grownups. They were so proud of the final product! 

Materials were: a paper plate (center cut out), fake leaves, stickers, pompoms, glue, festive ribbon, and crayons.

This friend chose to use stickers on her wreath

We called the tiny pompoms "pumpkins."

We worked on so many fall vocabulary words doing this activity as well as sequencing, turn taking, and following directions. I paired the activity with "Pick A Pumpkin" by Patricia Toht. 

Will you be trying this craft with your kiddos?

🍁Falling For Fall Hand Trees 🍁

 Fall is almost here and I'm so excited! We did this simple hand tree craft in therapy, the kiddos loved tracing their hands!

We traced our hands and decorated it with leaves. Leaves consisted of tissue paper, sticker leaves, and fabric leaves.

We paired this craft with Hocus Pocus It's Fall! 

What are some of your favorite fall books?

Please don't mention any of those old lady swallow series books...I'm not a fan 

I'm Back [With A Book Review]

After an 8 year hiatus, I'm back!!! Where do I even begin? The last time I made a post, I was 6 months pregnant with my first child. Today I am mom to 8 year old Maura and 6 year old Mason. 

Maura & Mason enjoying the boardwalk this summer. 

I'm still a practicing Speech-Language Pathologist, but have also taken on additional roles, namely helping with the family insurance business (let me know if any Pennsylvania or Delaware peeps need a quote😉)! 

SLP by day, insurance diva by night 😉

My work with the infant, toddler, and preschool population still continues. I even have a handful of virtual preschool students! I SO love the variety that I have going on at the moment. Even though the population I work with remains the same, my 2 children do not! My love of children's books continues and I'm constantly seeking out stories that I can share with my kids. Particularly stories that tell a story they haven't heard before.

I wanted to share a book that I initially purchased to help my daughter accept and embrace her body, but ended up using with both kids! 

Laxmi's Mooch by Shelly Anand

Laxmi's Mooch is a body positive story about accepting our bodies, and ultimately ourselves. Laxmi has a "mooch" as they say in Hindi (mustache) that she is self conscious about. After having a discussion with her parents, Laxmi learns that she comes from a long line of women with "moochay." Her mooch is normal and beautiful! Laxmi returns to school the next day and helps her schoolmates embrace their body hair, even drawing a mustache on a classmate who is lacking. 

One of my favorite pages!

So many themes can be explored with this book:

• Use this book as an opportunity to discuss your culture vs. Laxmi's culture. What do you have in common? What are your differences?
• Body diversity and body positivity can be explored.
• Readers can discuss how to troubleshoot social interactions with peers. What can you do when someone says something that makes you feel upset or self-conscious? 
• Who can you go to for help when you are having difficulty with a friend? 

You can listen to a read aloud of Laxmi's Mooch by author Shelly Anand below

Who would you share this book with?