Show of hands…who loves Chicka Chicka Boom Boom? This is such a classic beginning-of-the-year read-aloud that’s full of possibilities for lessons and activities and makes the first days of school fun! But true story…I ordered a copy of the big book from Scholastic a few years ago and when it arrived, the pages were printed in the wrong order. So they sent me a new one and the pages were all glued together. Finally, my third copy was a charm! Here are some of our favorite Chicka Chicka Boom Boom ideas! Or as the kids say…Chicken Chicken Boom Boom!
Chicka Chicka Boom BOOM!
We blow up 26 balloons and we put 26 letters in the balloons. The letters were printed on colored paper and rolled up. So, print the letters, cut them out, and roll them up super small. Insert them into the balloon and then blow up the balloons and tie them!
Then pop the balloons and match lowercase and uppercase letters and identify the letters and sounds!
SUPER FUN! SUPER LOUD! (Watch the video below!)
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Predictable Chart
Our Chicka Chicka Boom Boom predictable chart is a great shared reading activity that builds fluency and helps us with letter and name recognition. To prep, make the chart on chart paper (labels included in our Read It Up creation). Use sticky notes for uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and names.
We read the chant and I place a sticky note on the chart and they read the letters.
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Letters, Numbers, And Words Sort
This is a great activity for the beginning of the year because sorting is a higher-order thinking skill for our students and it gives us some early insight into our students’ understanding of letters, numbers, and words! Each student chooses a card from the bowl, and the class identifies it as a letter, number, or word. We identify the letter (and sound), and the number and we repeat the word and glue it to the chart! Then the students do their own sort!
THIS ACTIVITY IS INCLUDED IN OUR READ IT UP: CHICKA CHICKA BOOM BOOM RESOURCE!
Here are some additional comprehension activities that we do with the story:
Throw the letters in a a bag or basket. Pass the bag around. The students grab a letter. Identify the letter and sound and even a word for the letter and they place it on the tree!
Go on a letter hunt! Fill a bucket with sand. I found PINK and ORANGE sand from Crayola so we used that. But any sand will work. Bury magnetic letters in the sand. Students dig out a letter, identify the letter and the sound. Then we put the letter on the board in ABC order!
This year, for our letter hunts, we will be using our AlphaPals letter pillows! They’re giant, they’re soft, and FUN! They’re the perfect addition to your Chicka Chicka Boom Boom lessons!
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Interactive Lesson
This is always one of my favorite lessons to kick off the school year because the kids crack up while we do this lesson. It’s a highly engaging and EASY lesson to practice letters and sounds. And it’s a great way to bring the story to life in the classroom!
I made my costume using brown sweatpants and a brown hoodie. The hat is a plastic safari hat with fake palm leaves glued on. The letters are felt sticker letters from the Target Dollar Spot.
Place the letters in a bag/bowl. Students come up and choose a letter, the class identifies the sound and the letter. The student gets to add the letter to the coconut tree! The chant goes: “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom! Will there be enough room? Here comes (letter) up the coconut tree!”
And in the middle of this lesson, in August, in the south, the fire alarm will sound. You will be forced to stand outside, in the heat and humidity, while wearing a sweatsuit with cars driving by for 30 minutes. Just so you know…
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Math
Read Chicka Chicka 1, 2, 3, and make a fun number and counting game! Make a giant palm tree out of construction paper. Write numbers 0-10 on the tree. Then make a giant ten-frame from construction paper and duct tape. Laminate. Or make a giant ten frame using tape or Sit Spots Tape Gather 10-20 paper plates. Students toss a bean bag onto the tree. Identify the number and make the ten frame.
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Five Senses
Grab a coconut. I found mine at Kroger for about $3. You’ll also need a hammer and a screwdriver to open the coconut! True story. Use the coconut to talk about the five senses. Pass the coconut around and have students describe the coconut. Then we taste coconut and graph whether we like the taste of coconut. For the taste test, I use coconut water and coconut shavings!
And then you can use the coconut for a science lesson on sink or float!
We graph our results! The labels and recording sheets are included in our READ IT UP creation!
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Art Projects
We made sandpaper and feather Chicka Chicka Boom Boom trees! Super fun. And there’s always one who puts the tree on backwards….always!
We painted Chicka Chicka Boom Boom trees with our hands and arms! SUPER FUN!
Of course we had to make a CCBB hat! DUH!
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Snacks
Graham crackers, apple slices, whoppers and letter animal crackers!
Pudding, Whoppers, Laffy Taffy, Chocolate Icing, Pirouette Creme cookies from Pepperidge Farms.
We also made a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom sensory bin using pink and orange rice, plastic coconuts, and plastic palm trees. The cards are included in our ABC and 123 resource!
Here’s another version with rainbow-colored rice!
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Freebies
For more information and ideas, check out these posts:
Subtraction can be difficult for kids to grasp, so teachers need effective and easy subtraction activities for kindergarten. The best way for kids to learn
Week 35 kindergarten lesson plans are all about subtraction for kindergarten, ocean animals, vowels with Vowel boot camp, Dragons Love Tacos, Backwards boot camp, and
