CHICKA CHICKA MINI PACK

Our Approach to Early Childhood Learning

We know the most impactful learning for little ones happens through spending quality time with other children and adults, reading books, playing games, having conversations, and engaging in joyful activities. Kids can and should love learning; we do not believe in pressuring them to learn things they don’t want to, complete workbook pages, or do flashcard drills.

All of our activities are designed by an educator, and start with play - exploring, pretending, singing, or crafting, and then progress into learning activities. There are sequenced variations to meet the needs of your developing child, and to help you adapt one activity for multiple kids, if applicable. You’ll notice there are no ages attached to the progressions of the activities and this is absolutely intentional - every child will develop at their own rate and that is perfect!

Our goal is to prepare children for kindergarten and beyond with exposure to a variety of topics, vocabulary, books, experiences, foundations of reading, basic numeracy, fine motor skills, strategies to manage their emotions, and lots of curiosity. But most importantly, we want them to love learning, so have fun!

Legal

This pack is intended for personal use. You may not resell, copy, distribute, post, or share any part of this pack without written permission from The Little Learning Pack.

Adult supervision is required for all activities. Some activities may not be appropriate for younger children; please use your best judgement and monitor your children closely.

Little Learning Pack LLC does not assume any liability for losses or damages to any party.

Connect with Us!

We’d love to see your Little Learner in action. Tag us @littlelearningpack on Instagram, or email a picture to share!

Check out our Instagram, Facebook, and website to see more fun activities you can do with this pack!

Recommended Reading

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

LETTER HUNT & MATCH (p. 4-5)• I can identify the letters in my name• I can identify upper and lowercase letters• I can match upper and lowercase letters

FORMING SIGHT WORDS (p. 6) • I can read sight words• I can build sight words

STEM BONUS: COCONUT DROP (p. 7)• I can observe how objects move• I can make predictions and adjust a path to change how an

object moves

CHICKA CHICKA COCONUT CAKE (p.8)

MORE CHICKA FUN (p. 9)

activity listCHICKA CHICKA

LETTER HUNT & MATCH

Why?Learning letter names is the first step in learning sounds and recognizing words. Learning to pair uppercase and lowercase letters helps children understand their correspondence, and teaches flexibility in using both.

Level 1Little Learner identifies individual letters when prompted.• Work together to identify the letters in your child’s

name. Have your child point or mark each letter with a pom pom, button, or piece of cereal as you say them.

• Add more letters as your child advances.

FUN TWIST!Making a special wand as a magic pointer ups the fun for your Little Learner. Ours is as simple as a chopstick with scrap ribbon and star stickers.

Supplies• Printable, page 10• Optional: laminate printable, or use a page

protector, to extend use

Level 2Little Learner begins to identify letters in different arrangements and settings. • To increase the challenge, cut out the letters and scatter them on a table. It will be harder for your child when letters are not in a memorized location.

FUN TWIST!Scatter alphabet cookies (Trader Joe’s are our favorite!) instead of cut out letters. Little Learner can identify letters, and also place them over their match on the capital letter sheet.

Level 3Little Learner learns to pair lowercase letters with their uppercase partners

• Cut out the multicolored lowercase letters and match to uppercase (can use the color matching as an aid)

• Cut out the pink lowercase letters and match to uppercase letter (without color to help).

• Set two full sheets side by side, say a letter name and have your child cover the letter on both of the sheets.

FUN TWIST!Hide letters throughout a room to add a seek-and-find element. Supplies Printables p. 10, 11, 12

FORMING SIGHT WORDS

Why? Sight words are very common words that studentswill see frequently in books, as well as in the worldaround them. Some studies have found that the most common 220 sight words make up as much as 75% of all words used in books. They can begin learning to recognize them, even before developing decoding strategies. Learning sight words will build your child’s reading confidence.

Level 1

Cut out letters and let your child arrange and make “pretend words” on the lines below the palm tree. Have fun together as you try to pronounce your child’s creations.

Level 2Write a sight word on the line. Have your child find the letters to match and cover, then read the word.

Level 3Use the letters to build a sight word on the line and have your child read it aloud.

Level 4• Say a sight word and have your child build it on

the lines with cut-out letters.

Supplies • Printables, p. 10, 13• Laminator or page protector• Dry erase marker

STEM BONUS: COCONUT DROP

Why? In this activity, Little Learners will make predictions, observe how objects move, build and test ramps, and adjust as they gather more evidence. These thinking practices will help your child think like a scientist from a very young age.

Level 1Assemble your tree with tape or glue and tack to the wall using a donut of tape. Little Learner will have fun and build motor skills by dropping “coconuts” (pom poms, balls, or pieces of cereal) through the tube into a cup below.

Level 2Tape the tree to the wall at an angle and have Little Learner try to predict where to place the cup or a target below. Talk about where they think the ball will land, and help them use their finger to point to the path they are predicting. Then use the pom pom as a test.

After the first pom pom drop, talk about what happened and what they need to adjust based on what they learned from the trial.

Level 3Guide Little Learner in planning and placing a series of toilet paper rolls to the wall in a sequence that ultimately delivers the ball to the cup or target.

Supplies• Printable, p. 14• Toilet paper roll(s)• Tape• Pom pom or small ball

CHICKA CHICKA COCONUT CAKE

To make this Chicka-themed cake, you could adapt any cake recipe (or box!) you like by adding 4 oz. sweetened shredded coconut to the cake batter before baking. However, if you’re up for it, we love Ina Garten’s Coconut Cake recipe on www.foodnetwork.com.

After the cake has cooled, ice it and immediately sprinkle the entire surface with rainbow sprinkles. Pat them down a bit as you go to minimize the mess.

Finish it off with Trader Joe’s Cinnamon Schoolhouse Cookies for extra cuteness.

MORE CHICKALETTER FUN

Mix in More Skills • Sort cut-out letters by color• Count how many letters there are of each color

Move Our Bodies• Write a group of capital letters in sidewalk chalk outside, starting with the letters of your child’s

name, and moving on to letters they are learning. Say a letter name and have your child find it.• Add in a physical activity when your child reaches and stands on the letter (jump 3 times, hop

on one foot, sit criss-cross, etc...)

Table Topics• What is your favorite letter? Why?• Where in the world do you think we would see palm trees?• What do you think people use coconuts for?• How tall do you think the tallest palm tree is?

NO PRINTER?No problem!

If you do not have a printer, there are many other options for using the Little Learning Pack to help your little ones have fun while learning! Approximately half of the activities in our monthly packs will be designed without a printer requirement, and virtually all activities will have no-printer adaptations.

Option 1: Alternative Materials

For this pack, here are some alternative supplies that will work great!

Printable Alternative(s)Letter Hunt & Match Write letters on a piece of paper, find and cut letters out of

magazines, or use an alphabet placemat

Forming Sight Words Use letters written on cut paper, sticky notes, or magnetic lettersCoconut Drop Cut your own (or help your child cut) leaf shapes out of paper

and color green

Option 2: Send to a Print Shop

There are many low-cost options to upload our pdf and have the pages printed. We recommend stores with online ordering and in-store pickup (FedEx, Office Depot, or a local print shop are all great options!) to avoid shipping costs.

Option 3: Printer Recommendations

If you are interested in investing in a printer, here are some of our favorite printers:• HP Office Jet Pro• HP Envy• Canon Pixma