Tot School: Chicka Chicka 123

We loved our Chicka Chicka Boom Boom theme so much that we are doing round 2 with Chicka Chicka 1,2,3! These books are great kick off stories for our year of Tot School because they give us the chance to focus on letters for a week and numbers for a week. Of course we will work on letters and numbers all year but these 2 themes give me the chance to see where my daughter’s letter/number knowledge is with tons of focused activities.

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Here were our plans for Chicka Chicka 123 Week:

And here are the details of each activity:

We read Chicka Chicka 1 2 3 every day this week. Madelynn practiced counting to 20 with the numbers in the front of the book and I modeled counting to 100 in the back of the book. We also played “find that number” on these pages. I named a number and she searched the page to find it.

Chicka Chicka 123 Felt Board:

After we read Chicka Chicka 1 2 3, we used felt numbers and an apple tree to retell the story. I found the numbers in the dollar section at target and printed the apple tree out. You can find printable versions of these here.

Snip & Glue Apple Tree:

Similar to last week’s tree craft we started with pre-cut trunk and treetop pieces. Madelynn glued each to a large sheet of paper.  Then I gave her strips of red paper to snip into apples. She glued the pieces onto the treetop and added number stickers.

Sort and Count Bottles:

I created these bottles earlier this year for Madelynn to use to practice identifying numbers and thought this would be the perfect time to pull them back out. To make the bottles I used empty water bottles, wrapped them with a piece of colored felt and hot glued it together on the back side. Then hot glued a number cut out to the front.  Madelynn practiced counting and sorting the colored pom poms into each bottle for some great fine motor and math practice.

Peg Board Numbers:

I bought this set of Peg-It Number Boards for my classroom my very first year teaching. They are great for number recognition, counting, sorting, stacking and fine motor skills. Madelynn plays with these a lot on a daily basis so I thought it would be a great time to pull them out and really focus on the counting and number recognition.

Secret Number Painting:

Have you ever used a white crayon on Easter eggs to create designs before dying them? I used to think that was SO cool as a kid, and that’s what inspired this little activity. Madelynn loves to paint so I put together this super easy to prep secret number painting activity for her. All I did was write numbers all over a piece of paper with a white crayon and then let Madelynn paint the page with watercolors. She loved uncovering each number so much I actually had to quickly make another page so she could keep painting!

Outdoor Number Hunt:

  This outdoor number hunt was fun and super easy to set up. We used this Foam Number Puzzle Mat and I popped all the numbers out, threw them all over the yard and let Madelynn search and reassemble her puzzle.

Number Hop:

First I put on some music to dance to and then whenever I stopped the song I shouted a number and Madelynn had to find it and hop there. We used the same Foam Number Puzzle Mat from above for easy pre-made numbers.

Race & Wipe Numbers:

Last week’s race & wipe letters activity was a bit hit, so I knew we had to do it again this week with numbers. I wrote numbers all over our patio window with dry erase marker and then had Madelynn stand back a few feet. I gave her a number and she had to run over, erase it and run back.

Squirt the Number:

Fine motor and gross motor practice all rolled into one with this activity. I wrote a bunch of numbers all over the ground with sidewalk chalk and then told Madelynn which number to find and squirt with the spray bottle.

Shopping for Numbers:

I’m all about reusing the same learning tools, so I took the same numbers from our Foam Number Puzzle Mat we used above and spread them all around our house.  Then I gave Madelynn a printable number shopping list and she searched high and low to find all of the items on her list. She especially loved being able to check things off just like when we go to the grocery store.

Chicka Chicka 123 Snacks:

Coconut Tree Snack – We had so much fun making coconut trees last week that we had to squeeze just one more in 😉 Cut apple into thin slices. Lay graham crackers a line to form the trunk. Add apple slices to the top for palm tree leaves. Sprinkle blueberries near the top for coconuts.  

Counting Apple Trees – Print and laminate apple tree counting mats. Use red M&Ms, candies, or cherries to count the corresponding number onto each tree.  

Number Cookies – Mix butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour. Preheat oven to 400 F. Roll out dough on floured surface ¼ to ½ inch thick. Cut into shapes with number cookie cutters. Add sprinkles. Bake 6 to 8 minutes. Cool completely.  

Pretzel Build a Number – Use pretzel sticks to make and name numbers. Model how to form a number and have child copy it.  

Number Mac & Cheese – I found this awesome Number Mac & Cheese this week so we just had to have it for lunch one day. There is an ABC version too so I might have to go back and stock up on more to dye for sensory bins. I looked for ABC pasta last week online and it is hard to find and really expensive so buying a bunch of $1 mac and cheese would definitely be a cheaper option!

Number Puzzle Hunt:

In this bin: popcorn kernels, wooden number puzzle, gator grabber tweezers
Madelynn loved our puzzle bin last week so this week I hid the pieces to her number puzzle in a bin full of popcorn for her to hunt for.  She definitely thought this was a little more exciting than just dumping and putting the puzzle back together.

Play Dough Numbers:

You can never go wrong with play dough in our house so for this sensory activity, we used our number cookie cutters and Play Dough Tools for a little number practice.

Number Hunt:

In this bin: rainbow rice, foam numbers, and little cups  
We used this number hunt page for matching the numbers as well.

Play Dough Apple Trees:

The play dough from last week smelled so yummy we had to make an apple tree version for this week! I used packaged play dough mixed with apple pie spice for this activity.  Madelynn had mostly free play but I encouraged her to build trees and then use the number magnets to climb the trees.  

Chicka Chicka 123 Bin:

In this bin: play sand, magnet wand, play shovel and magnet numbers  
Madelynn used her magnet wand to hunt for numbers and match them to our number hunt page.

Number Water Painting:

Have you seen these Melissa & Doug Number Splash Cards? I know I posted about them last week too, but seriously you guys, these are amazing. All you do is fill the pen with water..YES WATER! for mess free painting on each card. And the best part? When they dry, the picture turns white again so they can be used over and over! We’ve had these for almost a few years and they are as good as new still. We got this Melissa & Doug Water Wow Splash Cards Bundle with Alphabet and Numbers & Colors so we have lots of options when we’re out and about. It made the perfect wrap up activity for our Chicka Chicka 1,2,3 week.

Want all of this week’s all about me activities for tot school?  You can grab them here:
On my site : Chicka 123 Plans & Printables On TpT: Chicka 123 Plans & Printables

Or you can grab our entire year of themes and plans:
On my site here: Tot School Bundle On TpT here: Tot School Bundle

Then check out the rest of our 35+ themes on the Tot School Curriculum Main Page.