Recently I started teaching preschool again after nine years at home with my little ones. For the beginning of the school year I thought it would be fun to create learning activities surrounding one of my favorite children’s books, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault. The kids loved starting the day singing and reading along with the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom book and my assistant and I put together some really fun activities in the classroom to extend their learning from listening to the book. For the first few weeks of school we made it our mission to begin their early literacy journey with a fun introduction to the letters of the alphabet with the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom book.
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Learning Activities
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Math Game
This math game is simple to create and simple to play. I found a palm tree clip-art image and made a graph in Word. The die was handmade with a wooden cube. I used numbers and dots (1-3) for my early counters, but the graphs and wooden die can be edited to include more images and numbers for higher counting. Children simply take turns rolling the die and counting out plastic markers to place on the trees. I encourage children to play until everyone covers their entire grid board. This game can be played by two children together or a child playing independently.
This idea came from the book More Than Math by Sally Moomaw and Brenda Hieronymus.
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Playdough Fun
For our playdough center we printed out Coconut Trees and adhered them to plastic trays. The children were given small rolling pins and ABC cookie cutters so that they could create letters to climb the coconut tree.
Here’s what you need to make this activity: Tree Printable ~ Playdough Recipe ~ ABC Cookie Cutters
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Little Books+ Stickers
Using copy paper and some extra cardstock paper I had at the house I created small blank books for the children to work on. We used our school’s Ellison press to make coconut trees to adhere to the cover of the books. We gave the children ABC stickers, pencils and markers and let them write their own book to take home. Stickers are always a great fine motor activity, and the kids took great pride in their very own books.
This idea came from the book More Than Letters by Sally Moomaw and Brenda Hieronymus.
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Magnet Letter Activity
This is a great way to get kids excited about letters, and to keep them busy while you cook dinner or get the dishes clean. I’ve used this activity in my own kitchen years ago when my kids were little and under foot while I cooked dinner. This could easily be created in a preschool classroom using a palm tree cutout on a cookie sheet with magnet letters. It’s a cheap and fun activity to make!
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Sticker Craft
This activity is SUPER easy to put together and a great way to help young ones with letter recognition and fine motor skills. It’s very similar to the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom books, in that children use stickers to decorate their very own coconut tree.
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Alphabet Art
This is a fun creative way to explore letters and teach children to recognize the first letter of their name. I created a homework project for our students and their families, and anyone could make this project at home to do with their child, because it’s so open ended. We sent home a large construction paper letter for each child and their family to decorate. We told them to decorate the letters anyway they would like, and when the children brought the letters back to school we encouraged them to share their work at circle time and tell their friends about their designs. The children were quite proud of their work, and I loved seeing all the unique creations. The alphabet letters brightened our walls! This does not have to be a classroom homework activity, anyone could do this at home because there are no rules or directions…it’s open to any interpretation!
Watch the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Video on YouTube:
This is a great way to listen to Chicka Chicka Boom Boom…kids love this catchy tune and video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhKmoI97X34
If you have any ideas for Chicka Chicka Boom Boom learning activities that I can use in my classroom next year please leave them below in the comments!
