First-Day Feelings: An Emotions-Focused Back-to-School Devotion for Families

The first day of school brings lots of emotions to the surface. Share this resource with the families in your ministry to help them process those first-day feelings at the start of the school year by talking intentionally with each other and with God about their emotions.

These short, simple activities will help families identify, understand, and process their feelings by talking about them with each other and exploring what Scripture has to say about our emotions. This family resource provides families with intentional tools and ideas to help them process their emotions now and throughout the school year.

Families will choose 1 or more of the following activities to complete together on the day(s) leading up to the first day of school:

• Short Family Devotion on Proverbs 3:5-6
• First-Day Feelings Check-In Activity
• Truth Feelings Wheel (Pre-reader and older kids versions)
• How Can I Respond? (Self-Regulation Tips for Kids)
• First-Day Feelings Question Cards

Want a back-to-school Sunday morning lesson that helps teach similar truths about our first-day feelings? Check out our Mixed Feelings Back-to-School lesson! It pairs perfectly with this family devotion or stands on its own. 

This download includes: 

• Full Devotion & Activities (PDF)
  • Parent Note
  • Family Devotion on Proverbs 3:5-6
  • Feelings Check-In Activity
  • Feelings Wheels (pre-reader and older kid’s version)
  • How Can I Respond (Self-Regulation Tips)
  • Discussion Cards
• Each page/activity as an individual file (PDF)
• Parent communication note (customizable Canva template or Word doc.)
• Social media images
• Leader guide with instructions for printing and promotion

This product is a digital download, which means you will receive a link to download the files after completing the check-out process. Please note: It is too large of a file to view on a mobile device.

**Once your order is complete, you will receive an email with the downloadable resource. If the email does not come to your inbox, please check your spam/junk or promotions folder, as the email with your downloads will sometimes show up there instead of your inbox.