Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Ornament ~ STEAM Inspired

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is a super fun book that is really popular with younger kids, including my youngest who adores this story! With it’s quirky, silly letters and fun rhythms, it’s a story he asks for again and again. So when it came time to create a book inspired Christmas tree ornament, this story was a perfect pick! Especially when we found ourselves with piles of letter keys from a little destructive learning with some old keyboards. Check out our Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Ornament that is STEAM inspired!

Christmas Ornament Craft

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Ornament - A fun STEAM activity that teaches about computers, keyboard functions, engineering, fine motor skills and more. Plus kids get to take apart a keyboard!

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One of the greatest ways to learn about something is to tear it apart! So when we got our hands on a couple of old keyboards I knew I had to let the boys learn through a little destruction!

The first thing we did was put on some safety glasses, which was a very good idea. Popping those keys off sent a lot of them flying!

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Ornament - A fun STEAM activity that teaches about computers, keyboard functions, engineering, fine motor skills and more. Plus kids get to take apart a keyboard!

Through some trial and error we discovered that a good stubby, flat head screwdriver worked the best for popping the keys. It was a lot of work but the boys LOVED it! Once we got all the keys off we flipped it over and unscrewed the back panel so we could see even more of the inner workings.

The circuit sheets were super cool and the rubber cushion mat became a popular sensory, fiddle toy.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Ornament - A fun STEAM activity that teaches about computers, keyboard functions, engineering, fine motor skills and more. Plus kids get to take apart a keyboard! Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Ornament - A fun STEAM activity that teaches about computers, keyboard functions, engineering, fine motor skills and more. Plus kids get to take apart a keyboard!

Once they were done I was left with a pile of keyboard keys. I just new I had to come up with something super cool to do with them.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Ornament - A fun STEAM activity that teaches about computers, keyboard functions, engineering, fine motor skills and more. Plus kids get to take apart a keyboard!

It was while reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom with the kids that the idea hit me…

A Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Ornament!

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Ornament - A fun STEAM activity that teaches about computers, keyboard functions, engineering, fine motor skills and more. Plus kids get to take apart a keyboard!

For those that haven’t read this super cute book, it’s about some little letters who decide to get all crazy and silly and climb to the top of the tree, but then they all fall and the big letters (parents) come and take care of them. Then they decide to go up again!

Silly letters!

We always get lots of giggles from this book and it has been a favourite for years.

To create our Chicka Chicka Boom Boom ornament we used:

Craft Sticks
Pipe Cleaners
Keyboard Keys (from our destruction project)
Wire – We used fine gauge electrical wire from our tinker space.
Tape

We used a craft stick and some pipe cleaners to create our tree. Wrapping the pipe cleaners around the craft stick trunk to create the leaves.

Then we used some wire and wrapped the wire around the stalks on the backs of the keys. The stalks are what connects the key to the circuit boards in the keyboard so it can register your key strokes. To secure the wires we used a little bit of tape.

Then we wrapped one end of the wire around a leaf on our tree and voila!

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Ornament

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Ornament - A fun STEAM activity that teaches about computers, keyboard functions, engineering, fine motor skills and more.

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