Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr and John Archambault is one of the first books that I read in the school year and this is our first "cooking project". There are actually a few healthy elements and the children usually love it! I have seen a few different variations online, but this is my favorite. The ingredients are a large pretzel rod, apple slices, grapes and alphabet cereal. Preparing special snacks is a great way to teach sequencing, following directions and beginning literacy. We try to "cook" 3 times a month. Often our cooking projects coordinate with the letter of the week. A popular center during Chicka Chicka Boom Boom week is our sensory bin. I fill it with dyed alphabet shaped pasta, plastic coconuts (from the Dollar Store), large alphabet beads, foam ABC puzzle letters, brown pom poms and tongs. Another favorite of mine is the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom tree that my husband made for me years ago. It is made from painted coffee cans (it is hard to find the metal ones these days!) that are filled with Plaster of Paris to weigh them down. There are artificial leaves attached to the top. The children use the tree to retell the story with magnetic alphabet letters. For Science, we observe a real coconut and shake the milk out. A few of the children are brave enough to taste it, but only a few of them like it! I downloaded this Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Alphabet Bingo game from lovetoteach.org. Cute, fun and a great way to find out which of my prekindergarten students know alphabet letters! http://www.lovetoteach.org/by-subject/reading/chicka-chicka-boom-boom-alphabet-bingo.html I do this craft every year and I think the original idea came from this same website. The trunk of the palm tree is made by painting the child's forearm and the leaves are made by painting the child's hand and printing it twice. We add fingerprint "coconuts" and sticker letters the next day.
