The Kissing Hand

the Kissing Hand

by Audrey Penn

This is a sweet story about a little raccoon named Chester.  Chester is about to start his first night of school and is nervous about leaving his mom.  He wants to stay home and play with mom, and his toys, his friends, his swing, and his books.  "Please may I stay home with you?" he asks his mom.

Awww, who could say no to that face!

Chesters mom explains that sometimes we have to do things we don't want to do, and that he will love school once he starts.  She tells him how he'll make new friends, play with new toys, read new books, and swing on new swings.

His mom tells him a secret that she learned from her mother, it's the kissing hand.  "The Kissing Hand?" asked Chester.  "What's that?"

Mrs. Raccoon took Chester's left hand and spread open his tiny fingers into a fan.  Leaning forward, she kissed Chester right in the middle of his palm.  Chester felt his mother's kiss rush from his hand, up his arm, and into this heart.  Even his silky, black mask tingled with a special warmth.

 "Now," she told Chester, "whenever you feel lonely and need a little loving from home, just press your hand to your cheek and think, 'Mommy loves you' And that very kiss will jump to your face and fill you with toasty warm thoughts."

Now Chester knew his mother's love would go with him wherever he went.

That night, Chester stood in front of his school and looked thoughtful.  Suddenly, he turned to his mother and grinned.  "Give me your hand," he told her.

Chester took his mother's hand in his own and unfolded her large, familiar fingers into a fan.  Next, he leaned forward and kissed the center of her hand.

"Now you have a Kissing Hand, too," he told her.  And with a gentle "Good-bye" and "I love you", Chester turned and danced away.

When Mrs. Raccoon pressed her hand to her cheek she felt Chester's kiss fill her heart with special words.

"Chester loves you," it sang.  "Chester loves you."

I love this book for little ones who have a hard time seperating from mom.  We did a little craft to go with the book, or a literacy extention activity.  First they traced their hand on cardstock paper.

And cut them out, Babydoll had a little help with the cutting here as she was concerned about cutting off the fingers.

Next they stuck kiss stickers on the hand.  I thought it would be fun for Babydoll and the 1-year-old to put lipstick kisses on it, but there was no way I was putting lipstick on the boy who was also doing this project!!  So I found some Valentines day stickers.

Here's Babydoll authenticating her kissing hand by planting a wet one on her cut-out :o)

Then if you want, which we did, put more Valentines Day stickers on it.  Finally attach a crafts stick with tape to the back, and you're done!