New Releases by Laura Park

In this modern age of technology, children need nature play more than ever before in human history. Pediatric therapy practitioners around the world are reading current research and realizing the benefits of nature for children with developmental challenges. Evidence suggests nature-based therapy is a powerful way to help children make rapid gains in sensory processing, mental health, motor coordination, and social play skills.Just like any real adventure, nature-based therapy is exciting and fun...but getting started as a nature-based therapist can feel overwhelming and scary due to all the logistics and unknowns. Most of us are used to working indoors and nature-based therapy is an emerging practice area with not much out there to guide us.Therapy in the Great Outdoors will help you start providing nature-based therapy immediately with confidence and ease! In this book, occupational therapist Laura Park Figueroa shares lessons learned during the start-up and growth of Outdoor Kids Occupational Therapy, a nature-based pediatric practice. In this book, you will learn:¿ Expert tips for managing logistics and planning nature-based therapy sessions.¿ Specific supplies you need to get started without spending a ton of money.¿ Must-have outdoor skills: hanging swings, building fires, tying the one knot you must know, and more!¿ And best of all: 44 easy-to-do kid-tested therapy activities requiring minimal supplies that you can carry in a large backpack for mobile therapy sessions in nature! With proven ideas for Crafts & Building, Group Movement Games, Social Skills & Self-Regulation, Snack Time, & Swings, you''ll have an entire school year''s worth of activities to help you effortlessly plan your nature-based therapy sessions. You will be inspired and equipped to adventure into nature-based therapy and transform children''s lives!

A practical book for congregations interested in bringing clarity and focus to their ministry, The Nested Bowls defines and reframes the purpose of values, mission, and ends in congregational life, and provides an engaging, meaningful process for the entire congregation to inform the board''s articulation of these foundational policies. Distilling ten years of Unity Consulting''s experience in this work, The Nested Bowls offers both road map and inspiration for finding the core of your congregation''s purpose and the difference it makes in people''s lives.

In James Patterson''s heartwarming #1 New York Times bestseller, middle schooler Jamie Grimm faces bullying and self-doubt as he chases his dream to become the world''s greatest comedian. Jamie Grimm is a middle schooler on a mission: he wants to become the world''s greatest standup comedian--even if he doesn''t have a lot to laugh about these days. He''s new in town and stuck living with his aunt, uncle, and their evil son Stevie, a bully who doesn''t let Jamie''s wheelchair stop him from messing with Jamie as much as possible. But Jamie doesn''t let his situation get him down. When his Uncle Frankie mentions a contest called The Planet''s Funniest Kid Comic, Jamie knows he has to enter. But are the judges only rewarding him out of pity because of his wheelchair, like Stevie suggests? Will Jamie ever share the secret of his troubled past instead of hiding behind his comedy act? Following the bestselling success of the hilarious Middle School, The Worst Years of My Life, James Patterson continues to dish out the funnies in another highly-illustrated, heartfelt middle school story. (Includes more than 175 black-and-white illustrations.)