Chicka Chicka Boom Boom: Family Learning Activities

My little Wyatt (3) has decided he wants to do school stuff too, so I'm working on a literature and alphabet unit to do with the entire family, but is primarily for him. For the first week, we read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr and John Archambault.

We began on a whim last week when Claire (2) was looking at an alphabet puzzle. Wyatt was sitting close by, so we sang the alphabet song while playing with the puzzle. I then grabbed Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and used the puzzle to show each letter as I read.

The next day, I stepped up my game a little and put a construction paper coconut tree on our refrigerator and slapped on the alphabet magnets. The kids thought this was awesome! A nice thing about having slightly older children is that they want to play too, so they end up teaching the little ones. We read the book again and I encouraged the kids to play. I find someone doing something with the tree and letters every day.

We started the third day by watching Leap Frog: Letter Factory. This movie helped my older children learn their letters and sounds; Quinn actually learned the sounds before she could identify and say their names thanks to this video.
As our main activity, we examined a coconut. Initially, the kids drew pictures and guessed what was inside. They were all amazed to hear the liquid sploshing around inside. After we observed all we could of the outside, we drilled a hole to extract the water and split the coconut open. Everyone tasted the water and the meat, then drew more pictures.
After we finished with the coconut, we read the book again -twice. You wouldn't think that reading a book for the third day in a row would be entertaining, but the looks on their faces said otherwise.

On day four, we read the book again and learned a little first aid. The letters get hurt when they fall out of the tree, so my husband showed the kids what to do when someone is bleeding. Using ketchup as the blood, he began with cleaning a small amount of blood and putting a band-aid on it. Next the kids practiced what to do if someone is bleeding a lot (put pressure on the cut and call for help). Then the kids practiced bandaging a moderate amount of blood. (Apply a large bandage and wrap with gauze. If it's still bleeding, wrap it again. Get further help.) My husband went a little further than I originally planned, but he's an EMT, so I can't really blame him. We already have a first aid kit that the kids are familiar with, but if yours aren't this would be a great opportunity to start one.

On the fifth day, we read the book again and made name trees. We used printer paper for the base paper and added construction paper and foam letters. The kids found the letters in their name and put them on their trees. We helped the little ones trace and cut their hands, but they glued it together. 

Some additional ideas:
I like Tasty yet Trying's idea of writing letters on a cardboard tube and having the kids match with letter stickers.
I almost put together a basic sensory bin similar to the one found at Natural Beach Living, but I absolutely love the sensory bin found at Enchanted Homeschooling Mom. The latter bin uses letter beads to thread onto a pipe cleaner tree.