The first day of school is filled with so many emotions for both students and teachers! While many feel excited, some feel nervous, and others fall somewhere in between, all feelings on the first day of school are valid and welcome! To help ease those strong first day feelings, I love to complete this back to school The Kissing Hand craft for kindergarten as we make connections to the story!

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The Kissing Hand Craft Prep

The Kissing Hand craft for kindergarten involves minimal prep… just what a busy teacher needs during back to school time!

Raccoon Craft Templates

There are two raccoon craft options, a print and color with crayons option or a print on colored paper or card stock option.

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If you are planning to have students color their own raccoon, print the raccoon craft templates on regular copy paper.

Alternatively, you can print all of The Kissing Hand craft templates on gray construction paper or card stock.

First Day Feelings Pages

There are ten “First Day Feelings” printable pages for The Kissing Hand craft. Choose the pages that work best for you and your students.

Then, copy the pages you select on regular copy paper.

First Day Feelings Class Graph

Print the title cards and column headers on card stock so that they can be used year after year.

Next, print the student feeling cards and cut them ahead of time so they are ready to go for the whole class activity.

The Kissing Hand Read Aloud

Before starting The Kissing Hand craft, I read “The Kissing Hand” by Audrey Penn.

This is a great back to school read aloud, as many students can relate to Chester and all the feelings he has as he heads to school for the very first time.

In this story, Chester the raccoon is nervous about starting school and being away from his mother. To reassure him, Chester’s mother shares a family secret called the “kissing hand.”

The Kissing Hand

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The kissing hand is a special gesture, where Chester’s mother kisses the palm of his hand and tells him that whenever he feels scared or lonely at school, he can press his hand to his cheek and feel her love.

With this comforting ritual, Chester feels more confident about facing his fears and embarking on his new adventure at school.

As we are reading “The Kissing Hand,” I have the students make connections to the story.

We talk about our feelings in comparison to Chester’s.

We also discuss ways our parents and guardians help us feel better when we are feeling nervous or scared.

First Day Feelings Graph

Once we finish reading the book, I like to complete a whole class “First Day Feelings” graph which is a great extension to making connections.

Each student selects a raccoon feelings card based on how they are feeling on the first day of school. They can pick from “happy,” “sad,” “excited,” “nervous,” “shy,” or “confident.”

Once they have their card, they write their name on the line and then color their raccoon with crayons or colored pencils.

After their raccoon is colored, we gather back on the carpet as a whole class.

Each student, then, comes up to add their feelings card to our pocket chart.

As an alternative, you can also use anchor chart or bulletin board paper and simply glue the cards in the appropriate columns.

We then spend some time comparing our results, analyzing which feeling had the most, which feeling had the least and so forth.

The Kissing Hand Craft Directions

First Day Feelings Pages

After we complete our whole class feelings chart, it is time to start the “First Day Feelings” printable pages.

To start, students will complete the page that highlights how they are feeling on the first day of school. There are several options, so choose what works best for your classroom.

Students can simply color how they feel.

They can also show how they feel by drawing and writing.

Next, we complete the graphing page which is a companion to the whole class graphing activity.

Once again, we analyze the data after the graph has been colored.

Finally, we cut out the pages and set them to the side.

Raccoon Craft

After our feelings pages are complete, it is time to assemble The Kissing Hand craft for kindergarten.

If you went with the print and color option, students will need to color the parts of their raccoon before cutting and gluing.

The craft templates feature easy-to-cut pieces, including straight and curved lines, making it perfect for little learners who are still developing fine motor scissor cutting skills.

Once all of the craft pieces are cut, I like to use glue stick to assemble the raccoon.

I model this process, explaining which parts to overlap along the way.

The final step is to add the feelings pages to the belly of the raccoon.

This first day of school The Kissing Hand craft for kindergarten makes an adorable back to school bulletin board display!

The Kissing Hand Craft for Kindergarten

Grab The Kissing Hand craft for kindergarten, including the raccoon craft templates and ten “First Day Feelings” printable pages HERE!

More Back to School Crafts

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Discover a full list of back to school crafts here!

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