Not So Spooky Spider Craft

 I just love this time of year. The weather cools down and the holidays are right around the corner. Since I work at a private school, we don't go all out for Halloween. However, this is the time of year that I love teaching about creepy crawly critters....especially spiders! 

This was a really fun project to make with the class. It was fairly simple to make and used supplies that I already had in my classroom. To get started, I took a piece of card stock paper and a bottle of glue (don't use a glue stick) I drew out a spiderweb with the glue on the paper. A white crayon works too, but the glue method  turns out so much better. It also gives the web a 3-d texture! I did this during the kids rest time and let it dry overnight to avoid little fingers touching the wet glue!

The next day, I had the kids paint their spiderwebs with watercolors! The glue will resist the watercolor so it creates a very cool design and leaves you with a beautiful spiderweb!

Next, I cut out black circles and 8 spider legs for each student. I used a 2 inch circle hole punch to make the spider body. Before the kids added their spider to the web, we watched a fun video on spiders by SciShow Kids. If you haven't checked this YouTube channel out yet, I recommend it! During the video we learned that spiders have 8 legs but can have lots of eyes! This way they knew how many legs to give their spiders, but I let them decide how many eyes to give their own spider. Googly eyes would work great, but I used sticker eyes I bought on Amazon. 

These spiders turned out so cute and are perfect hallway art. 

Monster Speech Theme!

October is here! This time of year is so much fun because we get to jump right into some of the most fun holiday therapy themes. There are so many options for spooky stories and ghoulish games, but sometimes those are a little too scary for our little ones. So I always love incorporating a (friendly) monster theme into my sessions this time of year. I wanted to do a round up post of all my favorite monster themed activities so you can join in on our fun!

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First on the list, books! Some of my favorites are: The Color Monster, Go Away Big Green Monster!, and Don't Push the Button! These are all fun books for young children. The monsters are cute and there are so many great story extension activity ideas out there.  Check Pinterest if you need some inspiration. 

The Color Monster is a great book to use for all ages. It talks about different emotions and relates them to a color. This book has opened up some great opportunities to talk about feelings and why we feel that way. Our office is using this book as our book of the month for October. 

 Go Away Monster! is a fun board game where students have to reach into a bag and pull out different pieces of furniture to make their bedroom. If they pull our a monster instead, you throw the monster into the box (we call it the monster dungeon!) and yell, "Go Away Monster!" You can always change that tag line to something that incorporates a specific target word or speech sound. 

Another really fun monster game is this Half Match Monster Edition game by Minds That Play! This is a super cute way to work on social skills, attributes, and asking questions. The game suggests two different ways to play (one is like Go Fish and the other is like Guess Who) but you could definitely use this open ended or even as a reinforcement after tasks are completed (how many monsters can you create before the session is up!?) To learn more about the game, check out their website, here!

A fellow SLP shared this adorable monster snack holder on Instagram the other day. I immediately ran to amazon to purchase one because I knew it would be perfect for my monster theme! There are literally unlimited things to do with this adorable little guy. We have been feeding him spiders (spider rings) as a fun reinforcement activity.  Someone mentioned that this would be great for feeding therapy and I absolutely agree! 

On the iPad: Toca Kitchen Monsters!

I have had this app on my iPad for quite a while. My students love it and it has some great language opportunities. You first choose the monster you want to cook for, then you choose the food, how you want to prepare it, and finally feed the monster. Sometimes they love the food, sometimes they don't (which is always pretty funny to see their reactions!) You can download this app in the app store for iPhone and iPad for FREE, here!

And what would a good theme be without some good ole ART-ticulation color pages?! I have monster themed articulation activities in my TpT store. You can check them out here! 

What monster activities do you use in your sessions? Please share below, I love finding new fun things for my students!

Halloween 2015 & The Switch Witch!

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Well another Halloween has come and gone. This was probably the most fun Halloween we have ever had as a family because Kenzie is finally old enough to really get into the spirit and celebrations. If you are a frequent reader of my blog, you know about Kenzie's obsession with princesses. Each day she is a different princess and requests that we call her by that name. We all get names, too. I can't tell you the last time my husband and I have been called mommy and daddy. Most recently we have been on a Cinderella kick. Kameron has been called Gus Gus pretty much since he came home from the hospital, Kevin has been Prince Charming (it's adorable hearing her call him that every day) and I am, you guessed it, The Fairy God Mother. 

 Well, on Halloween we made her dreams come true and became our characters for her. To say she was excited would be an understatement. The look on her face when we came out of the room in costume was priceless. I only made it in my costume for about 20 minutes. That's a Snuggie I am wearing and we live in Florida. It's still almost 90* here… we are impatiently waiting for it to cool down.

Between festivals, school events, and local trunk or treats over the past week, our house was over flowing with candy. Every morning Kenzie would wake up, dump out her bucket, sort the candy, and plan out what she was going to eat that day. The battle of "No candy before breakfast" was daily and was getting old fast. Then I learned about an amazing little thing called, The Switch Witch!

The Switch Witch is a brilliant idea! I can't believe I didn't come up with this :) Think Elf on the Shelf but for Halloween. She comes to stay with you before Halloween. Then Halloween night, you leave your candy out for her and she replaces it with a toy. The Switch Witch needs the candy because it helps her power her broom and magic!

Kenzie was thrilled to leave her candy out for the Switch Witch (hallelujah!!)  She ended up getting a Minnie Mouse watch! We will definitely be continuing this tradition each year! I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween, now let's get ready for Thanksgiving!!

Pin of the Week: No Mess Monster Finger Painting!

The countdown to Halloween is on! I am trying to jam pack as many spooky therapy activities and craftivities into my therapy sessions as possible. The other day when I was perusing Pinterest, I came across this Mess Free Monster Painting activity by Toddler Approved. We have been on a monster kick at home lately so when I saw this I immediately pinned it with K in mind. But let's be honest, the real winner was where I saw "mess free" painting. Since it's mess free, it's a fun activity to do at home or at school.

Here's what you need:

-Large zip lock baggies (1 for each kid. I used gallon size)

-Card stock (I was out of card stock so I cut up some file folders)

-Paint

-Googly eyes

-Glue

-Painters tape if you want to be extra careful that the pain doesn't come out of the bag. Mine stayed in with the zip lock, but you can never be too careful!

Here's what you do:

1. Draw an outline of a monster onto the card stock. If you are not confident in your monster drawing abilities, there is a template you can download here.

2. Cut out your drawing then put the monster outline inside the baggie. 

3. Squeeze some paint into the baggie. Be pretty generous with the paint, I ended up having to re-open the bag and add more half way through to make sure we could cover the whole monster.

4. Seal the baggie up (this is where the tape comes in if you are nervous with just the baggie)

5. Let your little one finger paint the monster!

One he/she is done creating their "monster-piece" carefully take the monster out of the bag and let it dry.

Once the monster is dry, add some googly eyes (you really can't have too many!) and that's a wrap. This is a lot of fun and really is mess free! I like pairing this activity with a Halloween story but you really could do this activity any time of the year!

If you missed my post on Monster Pudding Cups, you can check it out here. Who wouldn't love some pudding after crafting?!

Pin of the Week: Monster Pudding!

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Happy Friday! It's that time of year when pumpkins, ghosts, and goblins are invading your speech sessions! If you have been following my blog for a while, you know I just love a good thematic activity. One of my favorite books to read during the weeks leading up to Halloween is, Go Away, Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley.

This book is perfect if you are in a school that doesn't allow Halloween themed activities. It's a cute monster book that has lots of descriptive words. I actually plan on reading this book and making some monsters with Kenzie this weekend, so I will post some pictures after we do. 

After you read the story, how about you make some monster pudding?! This is a very simple but fun activity that will help your students work on their sequencing and following direction skills… plus it's yummy! 

Here is what you need…

1 package of vanilla Jello pudding 

2 cups of milk

green food coloring

chocolate sprinkles

9oz clear plastic cups

goggly eyes

black sharpie
large mixing bowl
wisk

Here's what you do…
1. Make the pudding according to the directions on the box (pour contents of box into a bowl, add 2 cups of milk, and stir)
2. Add 3-4 drops of green food coloring
3. Add goggly eyes and draw a face on the clear plastic cups.
4. Add the green pudding to the plastic cups.
5. Add sprinkles on top for hair!
6. Eat!

These pudding cups are so fun to make… and even more fun to eat! Kenzie and I had so much fun making them, talking about what ingredients we needed, and what steps come next. This activity was featured on this weeks' segment of Gayle's Guide to Pinterest. You can check out the video on my Facebook page. Have a great weekend!

Weekend Rewind {Highlights From This Week!}

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Happy Sunday! Normally this post goes up on Friday, but this past Friday I was in Orlando for our FLASHA conference. It just so happened that my husband was working in Orlando doing a broadcast from Halloween Horror Nights the same day, so we made a mini vacation out of the trip! Watch out for zombies below!!

In therapy this week we read my all time favorite Halloween book, Where's My Mummy? by Carolyn Crimi

This is just the most adorable story of Little Baby Mummy playing a game of hide and shriek with his Big Momma Mummy! While looking for his "mummy," he runs into some spooky creatures... but he's not scared! This is the first story I have read in a long time that I had kids asking me more than once to read it again!

After the story, the kiddos each created their own mummy mask! 

Of course we also had some fun playing with some Halloween apps on the iPad. This week I just happened to find a great way to work on pronouns with the Clicky Sticky Halloween app! One of the playing options is dressing up a boy and a girl in costumes. The kiddo that found it also happens to hate working on pronouns. Little did he know we were working on pronouns the entire time he was dressing "him, her, and them" up in costumes!! (enter evil Halloween laugh!!)

Unfortunately, I was super sick at the beginning of the week so I don't have too many activities to share. I am so excited for more Halloween goodies in therapy this week!!

Have a great rest of your weekend!

Friday Rewind {Highlights From This Week!} GIVEAWAY!

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Cheers! It's Friday! I hope you all had an awesome week. On Tuesday, my friend and I took our little munchkins to the pumpkin patch down the street for a lithe photo shoot. I just love these little cuties. They are two weeks apart in age and needless to say... best friends. His mother and I have already arranged their marriage :)

Therapy sessions were filled with festive fun, too! This week we read two books. That wasn't the original plan, but things rarely go as planned 100% of the time anyway!

We started out the week reading, The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin by Joe Troiano

I love this sweet story of Spookley. It opens a great opportunity to discuss how everyone is different and what makes us special. I also love using this story to work on shapes with my little guys. 

Then, one of my students happened upon my Go Away, Big Green Monster!

 app, and Spookley took the back seat! I planned on doing this story next week, but The BGM sure had the kiddos attention so I just went with it!

The kids had fun making masks and completing activities that went along with the story. 

I found some great mask templates on Pinterest. The masks were made from fabulously fancy paper plates. You can find a color template here and a black and white template here.

Last year I created a Big Green Monster glyph! You can check it out and snag a copy here.

We also did a sorting activity that I found here! We sorted words into Color, Size, and Body Part categories.

I have quite a few kids with following directions goals so I used an activity from my Halloween Thematic Unit packet.

I was pretty proud of myself by the end of the week because I got two new products up in my store. So guess what that means? I am giving away a copy of each! One lucky winner will win a copy of both products to make their speech sessions sweeter!

Sweet Syllable Sort contain 1-4 syllable words and sorting mats. 

BOOtiful Speech contains articulation cards for /r, s, l, k, g, f, v/, SH, CH, TH sounds, a game, and homework sheets!

Enter below to win!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway