The Kissing Hand

The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn is one of my favorite back to school books! It is a precious story about a little raccoon named Chester who is nervous about his first day at school. His mother shares with him a family tradition – the kissing hand. She explains that whenever he misses home, he can touch his hand to his cheek to feel comfort!

For today’s Wild About Books Wednesday, I want to share an easy-peasy craft and language ideas!

Crafts must be selected carefully for speech/language therapy. Crafts that require little to no instructions are best! I always make sure they’re low prep and compliment the therapy session! I found the perfect craft for this book on Pinterest – a kissing hand. I simplified the cute craft that I found, which you can see by clicking HERE.

Students just trace their hand, cut it out, and glue a heart in the middle! Easy. Peasy.

There are many ways you can use The Kissing Hand to enhance speech/language:

1) Use excerpts from the book to practice /ch/. You can even make a carrier phrase with Chester, such as…. “Chester sees a _____.” Also, instead of gluing one big heart onto the hand, your articulation kids can glue lots of tiny hearts on the hand that contain their target words!

2) Inferencing – Why is Chester going to school at night? I love the accuracy of this book! Help students figure out that raccoons are nocturnal!

3) Compare/Contrast – Students can compare/contrast themselves with Chester!

Have you used this book in therapy? Please comment and share your ideas!

Also, if you’re a blogger feel free to link up with a blog post about how you use a specific book in therapy! Just link up using the picture below: