"The Kissing Hand" Craft :)

Since my daughter Kendall is starting Kindergarten next week and my son Britton is going to be starting his first year in pre-school, I wanted to spend this week focusing on Back To School activities to calm their anxiety and get them excited for school!

If you haven't heard of the book, "The Kissing Hand"...you are totally missing out!!  It is the most adorable book about a little raccoon that is scared of going to school.  Chester's mom kisses his hand and explains if he is ever nervous or scared, he can put his hand up to cheek and remember he is never alone and how much his mommy loves him.

Yeah.  I cry every time I read this book :)

We read "The Kissing Hand" yesterday and did a fun, SIMPLE little craft to go with it.

DISCLAIMER!!!  This craft really is more applicable for little girls, but you can make it work for boys too ;)

 

All you need to make your own Kissing Hands is the book, some construction paper, and BRIGHT red lipstick (my 5 year old was in heaven!:)

Take your construction paper and let your little ones trace one of their hands.  I had to help my kids, and then I traced my hand as well.  After they are traced hand over the scissors and let your kids try and cut out their hands.  This was really difficult for my kids, but it is awesome practice for all the cutting they will do in Kindergarten!

Once you have your hands ready to go, its time to put that lipstick on!

I had Kendall kiss my hand so I could keep that with me while she is at school, and then I kissed both Kendall's and Britton's hands.  After they were dry we laminated them and put them in their backpacks.  

Now anytime they are away from home, they can look in their backpack and remember JUST how much their mommy loves them :)

This is a fantastic activity if you have a little one that is a little more on the nervous side about going to school.  Ever since the wildfire that was RIGHT behind our house a few months ago, Kendall has dealt with varying degrees of anxiety about being away from me.  I've struggled with ways to help her, and out of everything we have done I felt this like has been the MOST helpful.  

Is anyone else sending a Kindergartner off to school this year?!  If so, how are they (and YOU!!) holding up?

Thank you SO much for coming by today!  We have so many fun things coming up in the next few weeks, make sure you keep coming back!!

Our favorite Back-to-School Breakfast...Apple Pancakes!

 

I can hardly believe it...but school starts in 2 weeks!!

I LOVE this time of year.  I love school clothes shopping, going and getting all the new supplies, and seeing how excited my kids are.  I also love planning a fun breakfast to make the first day of school extra special :)

We made these fun Apple Pancakes last year and I thought I would share.  Whoever thought of putting pancake batter into condiment bottles to create shapes is an absolute genius...I thank you! ;)

If you haven't done this before, give it a try!  You can turn plain old pancake batter into something really fun and special for your little ones and the possibilities are endless!  One tip though...make your batter a little on the runny side and blend WELL.  There is nothing worse than getting a big lump stuck in the top, squeezing a TEENY bit too hard...and having the lid pop off and batter ooze out all over your griddle.  May have happened to me once...or twice ;)

To make these apple pancakes you need to separate your batter into 3 bowls, and using food coloring make one bowl red, one green and leave the other natural.

Then pour your batter into condiment bottles and get your griddle good and hot!

Draw the outline of your apple and then quickly fill it in.  Using the natural batter I made the stem, and then topped it off with a leaf made out of the green.

Flip it once, cook on the other side, and you have yourself some adorable Apple Pancakes!

For an extra yummy twist, whip up some apple syrup to go along with these...here is my favorite recipe :)

1 cup sugar
2 tbls corn starch
½ tsp pumpkin pie spice 
(nutmeg, cloves, allspice, ginger)
2 cups apple cider
2 tbls lemon juice

Stir and Cook constantly until thick. Boil 1 minute, then add butter.

¼ cup butter

Seriously...its amazing!

Thanks for stopping by Blue Skies Ahead today and please share...what fun ways do YOU celebrate the first day of school?!