Apples are a fun topic for young children to enjoy and learn about. The theme sits well in a larger preschool lesson plan on nutrition, but is also an appropriate theme to discuss with children during the fall harvest.
Apple Preschool Crafts
These apple craft suggestions range from easy to difficult in required skills for preschool ages:
- Apple stamping is an easy art activity and fun to do. Cut an apple in half and place in a shallow container of red paint. Allow each child to use the apple as a stamp for painting.
- To make an apple person, this craft is easily put together with a pre-cut apple shape and four strips of green paper for children to glue on for arms and legs. The apple craft project is finished with some eyes and smile.
- Tearing red construction paper into pieces to glue onto a small paper plate for an apple shape is a wonderful activity promoting fine motor skills.
- An open face apple can be assembled with an apple shape made out of red construction paper along with a smaller white paper to glue on top, followed by black apple seeds and stem to finish the project.
- This apple craft is difficult in its task, but a great challenge for cognitive development. Provide each child with five paper apples, and five worms (an extra step would be to provide children with apple templates to draw and cut out five apples themselves). The child can print the numbers one through to five on each worm. Alternatively, this step can be completed by the teacher or adult preparing the art project. One worm is placed on each apple. The children then have to count out apples seeds, pre-cut from black paper to match the number on the worm. The seeds and worm are glued onto apples which are then attached onto a larger piece of paper.
Apple Poem
This apple poem is similar to an action song to be enjoyed in group circle. It also works well in the form of a felt story for a flannel board.
Way Up High in an Apple Tree:
Way up high in an apple tree, five little apples were looking at me. (children can be standing, pointing high up to the tree and then to themselves)
I shook that tree as hard as I could (children pretend to shake a tree)
And down came an apple, mmm, mmm, it was good. (children pick up an apple off the ground, take a bite and rub their tummies).
This poem continues until there are no more apples in the tree.
Apple Song
The following song can be included into an apple theme or used within a nutrition lesson plan or during the fall season.
Apple Song: (Tune: Itsy Bitsy Spider)
Once a little apple seed was planted in the ground.
Down came the soft rain, falling all around.
Out came the sun as bright as it could be
And that little apple seed grew up to be a tree!
Preschool Books about Apples
Learning about how apples grow falls into natural sciences and there are so many books that explain the steps from seed to fruit. In addition, there are a variety of fun books about picking apples and eating them too! A classic Eric Carle book can be included in an apple theme, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, as the caterpillar's first choice in the story is to bite into a big red apple!
Final Suggestions
There are many other ways to include learning activities into an apple theme within any early childhood environment. Cooking with apples is certainly a learning and enjoyable process for young children to participate in. Making apple sauce is an easy cooking activity for a group of young children. Another wonderful inclusion into an apple theme is to visit an orchard or farm where children can view the apples on the tree and learn about how the apples are picked and harvested.
For more ideas about an apple theme for preschool, try reading this suite101 article: Apple Activities for Preschoolers
Christine Moore - Early Childhood Educator, Preschool/Daycare Resources, Online Workshop Instructor, ECE, BGS
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