Cut white paper plates in half and give one to each student. These will be the raccoon faces. Instruct the kids to use grey markers, crayons or paint and cover the back sides of the halved paper plates. Cut out two triangular ears from black construction paper. Cut out smaller triangles with white construction paper and glue onto the black ears. Color the white triangles grey. Glue the ears to the back of the paper plate, along the curved top. Cut the raccoon's mask out of black construction paper and glue onto the back of the plate, where the eyes should be. Glue googly eyes on top of the mask. Glue a wooden craft stick the front edge of the plate. Let it dry.
Give each child a rock, about the size of your palm or hand. Pass out acrylic paint and small paintbrushes. Instruct the class to paint the rocks gray and brown. Use black paint across the area of the eyes to create a mask. Make eyes with a different color. Use black paint to create a mouth, thin whiskers, triangular ears and a bushy ringed tail that curls around the side. Let it dry.
Cut three small hearts out of black construction paper. Cut two medium-sized hearts out of gray construction paper. Cut two large hearts out of black construction paper. Cut one extra-large-shaped heart out of gray construction paper. Use the extra-large gray heart, right-side-up, as the raccoon's head. Glue one of the small black hearts, right-side-up, at the very bottom point of the head for the raccoon's mouth. Glue two small black hearts onto the two medium gray hearts for the ears. Glue the ears onto the head at the top of the heart, upside-down. Arrange the two large-sized black hearts horizontally, point to point, for the mask. Glue onto the face where the eyes should be. Glue googly eyes on top of the black mask. Let it dry.
Give each student some clay, the size of a plum. Tell each child to smooth out the clay until it is flat. Give each student a small, plastic raccoon toy. Instruct them to make raccoon tracks in their clay. Implore them to be imaginative and tell a story with the tracks. If the raccoon is running, it will have farther-spaced footprints. If the raccoon is tired, the footprints will stop and it will take a nap. If the raccoon is scavenging for food, the footprints will be all over the place. Have each child write a paragraph about their raccoon's antics or present it orally to the class.