First Day of Kindergarten Shirt Ideas, 40 Sayings and Photo Tips

Kindergarten is the first "real" school day, and for a lot of families it's the first photo in a series that runs all the way to graduation. The shirt is part of that photo, so it's worth picking one your child is excited to wear.

Here are shirt ideas, forty first-day sayings for shirts, signs and captions, and a few traditions that make the day easier.

Shirt ideas they'll actually want to wear

The best first-day shirt is built around what your child loves right now. Our "Ready to Crush Kindergarten" shirts cover the favorites:

• Dinosaurs: a T. rex design (the shirt in the photo above), a retro dinosaur and a dinosaur with a backpack.
• Trucks and diggers: monster truck, excavator and off-road truck.
• Gamers: a video game controller design.
• Unicorns: a unicorn kindergarten shirt.
• The year before: pre-K and preschool versions.

Let your child choose the design and the color. They'll wear it more happily, and the photo shows it.

40 first day of kindergarten sayings

For shirts and signs

• First Day of Kindergarten
• Hello, Kindergarten!
• Kindergarten, Here I Come
• Watch Out, Kindergarten
• Ready to Crush Kindergarten
• Kindergarten Bound
• Big Kid Now
• Future Class of [year]
• Kindergarten Rookie
• Officially a Kindergartner
• New School, Who Dis?
• Brave and Ready
• Let the Adventure Begin
• Day One, Year One
• Level Up: Kindergarten

Captions for parents

• Just like that, a kindergartner.
• I blinked. Now there's a backpack.
• Day one of thirteen years of first days.
• Packed lunch, brave face, big kid.
• They were ready. I was not.
• Waving goodbye with a smile, crying in the car.
• Same kid, bigger backpack.
• The first of many first days.
• Somebody's teacher is lucky today.
• Hello kindergarten, goodbye baby days.

For the last day of school

• Last Day of Kindergarten
• Kindergarten: Crushed It
• Look How Much I Grew
• Next Stop: First Grade
• One Year Down, Twelve to Go
• Kindergarten Graduate
• Smarter, Taller, Braver
• See You in First Grade

For lunchbox notes

• You are brave and kind.
• Make one new friend today.
• I'm proud of you. See you at pickup!
• You've got this, kindergartner.
• Big day, big hug.
• I love you all the way to recess and back.
• Can't wait to hear about your day.

Class-of tip: a child who starts kindergarten in the fall graduates from high school thirteen years later, so a kindergartner starting in 2026 is the future Class of 2039.

Take a photo you'll repeat every year

1. Pick a spot you'll still have in five years: the front door, a tree, the porch steps.
2. Use a sign with their own answers: the grade, their age, the teacher's name, their favorite color and food, and what they want to be. Their answers are the best part a year later.
3. Shoot at their eye level, crouching down, so the photo is from their world.
4. Take the same photo on the last day, in the same shirt and the same spot. The side-by-side is where you see how much they grew.
5. Get one of the backpack walking away. It's often the photo that says the most.

Getting the size right

Five- and six-year-olds come in every shape. Our kindergarten shirts come in toddler 2T–5T, youth S–XL and adult unisex S–4XL (for big siblings and parents who want to match). Measure a T-shirt that fits your child well now, compare it with our size guide, and size up if they're in between: the shirt should last through the hundredth day of school and the last-day photo.

Wash the shirt once before the first day so it's soft; our care guide explains how to keep the print bright.

Small traditions that help

• A first-day breakfast they choose.
• A practice run to the classroom door a few days before.
• A lunchbox note, with a drawing if they can't read yet.
• A two-minute interview on video: the same questions every year.

See every design in our first day of kindergarten shirts.