I LOVE Children’s books. I collect them and get excited about buying them just like most ladies feel about shoes. I never feel guily about buying them either. One of my favoirte ABC’s children’s books is Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr. & John Archambault. I teach preschool and it was our theme for the year. I can’t think of a more catchy, fun book for kids-they LOVE it! My own kiddos have it memorized and I love to hear them read it. This book makes learning the ABC’s fun!
I even have a huge Coconut tree painted on my wall in honor of the book and we add letters to it as we learn each one.
Today I’d love to start a little “Book Nook” if you will. I would love to share my favorite children’s books with you and fun activities to go with them…so here is the first one and stay tuned for more in the future. 
After you read this story to your little ones, sing the song, and talk about the book…here are a few fun activities to do!
Mini “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” Trees:
Supplies you will need:
-Toilet Paper Rolls (these are great for so many kid crafts-If you’d like a taller tree, use a paper towel roll:)
-Brown and green cardstock or construction paper
-glue
-Letter stickers or Foam sticker letters
-Scissors
-Palm pattern: here is the link to download mine or you can make your own: http://www.4shared.com/photo/Zdj5UKab/chicka_boom_palm_pattern_copy.html
To make the mini trees:
First: Cut your brown paper to the length of the toilet paper roll and glue around the roll
Second: Cut out the palm tree leaves and glue on the top of the rolls (standing up) 3 per tree. You may have to help your little one with these steps.
Third: Add LETTER stickers or foam letter stickers to your tree! The kids love this part!
Now your kiddo has their very own Chicka Chicka Boom Boom tree to display!
And now for a fun “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” snack idea to celebrate the book!
What you need:
-Green apple slices for the palms
-Whopper candy for the Coconuts
-Graham Crackers or Chocolate Wafters for the tree trunk
-Alphabit Cereal for the letters
Have your child build their tree and add letters to their “Tasty Tree” like the story did. They can walk the letters up as you read the story! Very fun treat idea to celebrate the book!
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
I love this book!! We wore our copy out when my boys were small. What fun projects to go with it.
Love these ideas! My son is in preschool and I used to be a teacher, so I am always on the lookout for fun things to do with books. Thanks!
I LOVE this post and am looking forward to more like this in the future. I used this book when I taught pre-k and 1st grade…these activities are too cute. I am now homeschooling my daughter (pre-k) and am so excited to use these ideas! Thanks for sharing!
Adorable! I am bookmarking this to do with my Daisy Girl Scout troop this coming year. Thanks for this (and all) clever idea(s).
Thank you so much for this post. I want to let you know that I posted a link to your blog in CBH Digital Scrapbooking Freebies, under the Page 6 post on Aug. 01, 2011. Thanks again.
If you live near a Trader Joe’s, their alphabet shaped cookies would be cute for the snack too … a little large, but still.
Cute idea!
SO cute! Chicka-chicka-boom-boom is my daughter’s favorite book (she carries a copy with her everywhere, even to bed!) – This post came at the perfect time! I am planning a c-c-b-b party for her upcoming birthday and your mini-coconut-trees would be a great craft project for the kids at the party!
Thanks for sharing! I’m linking to this post here http://pinterest.com/dbs/chicka-chicka-boom-boom-party-ideas/ 
Michelle
SO adorable Jamie!!
Jamie. This is so fun! I love it. I’ll have to do this with my almost 3 year old when we start doing some mommy preschool time this Fall. Can’t wait to see what you do next!
My son is currently obsessed with this book. He saw the video on youtube first, then we got the book, and it goes everywhere with him. Where did you get the tree in your 3rd picture? If I let my son see it he will not sleep until we get one for him!!
Have you ever read “Monkeys in the Kitchen” by Sherry Fitch? That is a really fun book to read to kids. I love Chicka Chicka Boom Boom too, very musical flow to it and that is what Monkeys in the Kitchen is like as well. Fun, fun, fun!!
This is genius! I love Chicka Chicka Boom Boom! I just shared this on my blog today. Here is the link:
http://www.oopseydaisyblog.com/2011/08/wednesdays-wowzers-wedding-photo-failure.html
Thanks for inspiring!
~Alison
This is SO CUTE! I’ll definitely be repeating as I’m going to be doing homeschool preschool this year with my 3 year old. She loves the blues Clues episode with this book I know she will get a kick out of having our very own tree!
I love that food project. We use that in our preschool classroom as well except instead of whoppers we use red grapes for the coconuts. I love the coconut tree. We have always done ours flat. I love the 3D pop yours gives.
This is one of my favorite children’s books also. I taught preschool for Head Start and we were housed in a church building where we couldn’t paint or hang things on the walls, but we had a pole in the middle of our classroom and we wrapped that in brown paper and hung enormous green leaves from the ceiling at the top. Then the kids put the letters all the way around the tree, so the entire thing was 3-D and they loved it.
I’m planning a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom party for my daughter’s 2nd birthday. Thanks for sharing these ideas. They are great!
Love these little trees! Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is the lit book used in our reading curric this week so this will be perfect. We’re going to use pringles cans instead of TP rolls, because for some reason, I have a bunch of those in my recycling bin. I have no idea who ate all those chips over the summer.
When I taught Kindergarten I had a great tree. Wish I still had a picture! i took a a small tube from a room size carpet. (About 3 inches in diameter – 4 to 5 feet tall) Then used quik crete to cement it in a large plastic flower pot at a very slight angle. Then bought a cheap green umbrella at the dollar store and stuck in the top of the tube and opened it. I then took green poster board and cut out large banana leaves and mounted them across the umbrella. My kids loved it!! It was a neat addition to our room.
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