Mommy & Me Book Club: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

We hosted another Mommy & Me Book club. Most of the ideas we got from this site. We changed a few things and modified others. My kids really love this book and it was fun to theme an entire morning  around it. Here's how it went. 

Gathering Activity: 

For the gathering activity we pooled together several ABC themed books and laid them out. We also had out some ABC Magnetic letters for the kids to play with. While waiting for people to show up the kids could read through books or use the magnetic letters. The pre-school age kids did not seem too interested in this however, they mostly just played while waiting for others to arrive. My little one had fun with the magnet letters while the others worked on their craft. 

Circle Time:

During circle time we all gathered to sit down on a fun ABC mat that we happened to have. We sang "Here we are together at Mommy & me" (Saying each kids name in the song.) We of course sang the "ABC's." We then counted to 10 and backwards from 10 back to 1. Then we read through the book, "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom." Each child had an instrament that they were able to play/make as loud as they could during the "Boom Boom" parts of the book. They also yelled out "Boom Boom" if they could remember to do both. We then re-told the story of chicka chicka boom boom using a magnetic board and magnetic letters. Each child got to help tell part of the story. They especially loved being able to knock ALL the letters down to the ground when that part of the story came. 

Art/Craft:

For the craft we made Coconut Trees. We used Crystal light containers for the base of the tree and had that part already covered in brown paper before the kids got hold of it. We also wrote each letter of the alphabet onto the tree. The kids were each given a sheet of ABC stickers and were to match up all the stickers with the letters on the tree. Then we had green "grass stuff" To stick into the top of the tree for leaves, and little cut out brown circles for the coconuts that the kids could tape onto the top. 

The finished Trees!

Activities:

We did two different activities. The first one was Alphabet freeze dancing. We turned on some fun ABC music and the kids danced away. Then the music was paused and each kid had to stop on top of a  letter. We went around and each kid told us what letter they were standing on. Then the music started and they danced again and so on. This was a big hit. The kids loved it. 

Another activity that we did was rice bucket exploration. We filled a giant tub full of rice and put in all 26 magnet letters. The kids had to work together to find all 26 letters. After they were all found they lined them up in order on the table. 

Show & Tell:

Everyone brought an item for show and tell. Some had to do with the book, some didn't. But they enjoyed getting up and showing off what they brought. They followed this routine:

My name is...

I brought...

I like it because...

It is like the book because...

Snacks & Food:

For the main part of lunch we had these really cool coconut trees. peanut butter and jelly for the trunk of the tree. grapes for the coconuts, apples for the leaves, and cheese-it crackers with letters on them for the letters. 

 We also had cute coconut tree cupcakes with chocolate covered raisens for the coconuts, and sugar letters.

 For the adults we had a fruit and vegetable tray, more pbj sandwhiches and extra cheese-it letters and such.

 And another mom brought these awesome mini pancakes with letters on them.