Craft – Learning Activity With A Children’s Favorite Book

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom will there be enough room? Most every mom has read those words at least once. And there’s a reason. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is a wonderful young children’s book written in a fun, easy to remember rhythm that keeps them interested so it’s a great way to teach the alphabet. When I saw this simple and adorable craft I knew it would be great hands on reinforcement and would take learning with Chicka Chicka Boom Boom to the next level.

To do this craft and activity you will need Chicka Chicka Boom Boom of course, 2 sheets of construction paper, one brown and one green, scissors, cookie sheet, fridge magnet letters, and an adhesive magnetic strip (You can get this at any craft store or big box store with the velcro or other adhesive products.).

First, cut out your coconut tree trunk using the brown construction paper. I didn’t sketch out the tree first, but for some that may be easier. Then cut out the palm tree leaves using the green construction paper. You can also either free hand the leaves or draw them before cutting, whichever works best for you. I did 4 leaves. They do not have to be perfect so don’t stress if your “leaves” are not island ready! :-)

After you have cut out the tree trunk and leaves, cut small squares of the adhesive magnet strip and position them at points along the back of the tree and leaves. I did 3 squares for the trunk and 1 each for the 4 leaves.

After you have put the magnets on your tree trunk and palm leaves, it’s time to put the coconut tree together as shown above. A told B I’ll beat you to the top of the coconut tree! Now you are ready to use the magnetic letters and the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom book and put those letters on your tree!

The idea is to read the book with your little one and let them see if they can find the same letters in their pile as the ones in the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom book and put the matching letters up the coconut tree. Depending on their knowledge of the alphabet, some may require more help than others. But even if they are only beginning to learn the alphabet, they will have fun sticking the letters to the tree as you read to them.

As you can see, my little guy was pretty serious about choosing his letters. He is letter obsessed at the moment and has this book memorized so he “read” it to himself in his toddler speech as he matched the letters with those on the book pages and wanted little help from me!

He absolutely loved this activity! Even though he refers to the tree as a coconut tree (co-nuh twee) when he “reads” the book, he calls the tree on the cookie sheet a flower. The next day he kept asking me for the “flower” and to both of our frustration I had no idea what he was talking about, then it dawned on me. He was so excited to see the craft again and has asked for it several times since then.

This craft takes very little time to set up and do and almost any age that can pick the letter up can participate. It’s a fun way to incorporate learning and a wonderful children’s book. The whole alphabet up the coconut tree!

Note: This craft was from a Pinterest pin originally created by Little Page Turners.

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