Teaching Expertise

Planning on reading the famous Dr. Suess’s book Ten Apples Up On Top? Accompany your read-aloud with these 10 integrated lessons that enrich and extend your preschool or early elementary students’ learning in all subjects. Read on to find 10 awesome activities that incorporate motor skill practice, math, and science as extensions.

1. Apple Montessori Sensory Table

After reading Ten Apple Up On Top, you can set up a stacking sensory table! Print out small pictures of apples and tape them onto cubes or Lego blocks. Be sure to include small red pom poms and photos of your students. For an extra challenge, have your students stack each item using jumbo tweezers. 

Learn More: Living Montessori Now

2. Stacking Apples Stem Activity

Another great extension for the book is stacking painted rocks! Students will love this art activity as they get to paint rocks and learn how to balance objects. This integrated activity is perfect for Montessori classrooms and is a great addition to the apple sensory table! 

Learn More: Kid Minds

3. 10 Apples Up On Top Balancing

Make the story more realistic for your students by having them balance bean bags on their heads. They can keep count of how many they were able to balance, and then create a graph! This fun extension activity provides perfect counting practice for the whole class. 

Learn More: Teachers Mag

4. 10 Apples Sidewalk Chalk

A teacher’s favorite apple activity is sidewalk chalk! Students can trace their bodies and then draw and count apples. This integrated activity combines fine motor skills, counting, and number recognition, as well as gross motor skills! 

Learn More: Still Playing School

5. Ten Apples or Less?

This fun printable activity is great for kindergarten or first-grade students learning number recognition and early literacy skills. Students must stack apples on the heads of each animal to match the number that it says! Students practice counting and teachers will get real-time student data from their work!

Learn More: View From A Step Stool

6. Apple Graphs 

One cool classroom lesson is graphing apple tasting! Students can try the three types of apples and paint an apple for each one they liked. Then, put them together to create a graph. 

Learn More: Fun-A-Day

7. Ten Apples Counting Activity

This fun counting activity is great for early childhood students. All you need is a felt board, a picture of your child, and scissors. Then, students can practice 1-1 counting skills independently! 

Learn More: Teaching Mama

8. 10 Apples Up On Top Relay Race

A great gross motor extension of the story is a relay race! Create a headband with 10 apples up on top and have children complete the tasks, without dropping them! 

Learn More: Home Grown Friends

9. Stacking Apples STEM Challenge

Looking for a fun engineering activity as an extension of this wonderful story? Have your students try to stack apples! This STEM activity is a great hands-on activity and promotes higher-level thinking. 

Learn More: Steam Stational

10. Ten Apples Up On Top Math Game

This apple print-out game targets a variety of student goals. Kindergarten students will practice counting and reading in the various games included in the bundle. 

Learn More: Math Geek Mama