Despite the colder weather, Fall brings many of my favorite things, such as pumpkins, Halloween, and apples. Fall is the perfect time of year for teaching about all things apple. Your kids will love these preschool apple-themed activities. They’ll learn about different types of apples and practice math and literacy skills with these fun apple activities. Get ready for some fun with these fun fall activities.
1. Ten Apples Up on Top by Dr. Seuss
Dr. Seuss’s books always entertain youngsters. This one is a great opener for an apple unit and lends itself to many different activities. Kids love counting along as they read as well. Kick off apple season with this fun book.
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2. Printable Apple Counting
This activity is one of the follow-up activities to the book. Students will select a number card at random and then stack that many paper apples on the dog’s head. This would make for a fun game or just be used as a center activity. This apple printable can be used in a variety of other ways too.
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3. Apple Pie Play Dough
Play dough is loved by most toddlers and this one will have your classroom or house smelling like apple pies. Most play doughs are made using flour however this one is not, which is helpful if you have students with gluten intolerance.
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4. Apple Cutting Practice
Cut or trace the lines from the apple to the basket. Either way, it is a great way to have kids practice their motor skills. If they are tracing, it would be fun to use red, yellow, and green markers. This is a great printable activity.
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5. Apple Shape Sorting
Match those shapes up on the apples! Kids will love these puzzles. They are good motor skill practice and remind kids of what each shape looks like. Simply print, cut out the shapes from the center, and laminate everything.
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6. Apple Tree Color Sorting
This fun activity has kids sorting colored cereal onto apple trees. Is food not allowed? Just use pom poms or buttons. It can be a center activity or a craft to take home. Sorting activities are great for kids and kids will love this apple tree match activity.
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7. Apple Shakers
Paint some paper plates and make your shaker. Kids love music and these are adorable. If you have enough apple seeds you can use them. If not, then dried beans work as well. Once all your students have one, they will be able to shake away to your favorite songs.
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8. Fine Motor Counting
This apple math activity will also help develop motor skills. Match the number on the stick to the dots on the apple and then thread the “worm” into the apple. It’s a great center activity that preschoolers will love.
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9. Apple Dot Painting
Dot markers activities are usually popular with preschoolers. They love getting to use an uncommon writing implement and it helps them learn how to hold a pencil correctly. Simply print these out and let your students dab away.
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10. What Weighs More Than An Apple?
As a middle school teacher, I always wish that kids learned how to use balance scales before getting to 6th grade. This activity is both fun and teaches kids the basics of using these scales. They’ll enjoy finding what and how many of something they need to outweigh an apple.
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11. Apple Stamps
This classic apple craft is something I remember doing in school. Apple prints are fun to make and a great way to first show kids what the inside of an apple looks like. The prints can be used to decorate, which will add to the apple theme in your room.
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12. Apple Sensory Painting
Looking for a less messy way to paint with apples? Then I have the apple craft for you and it doubles as a sensory experience. Simply put some paint in zipper bags and put an apple cutout on the bag (Contact Paper will work well here). Then kids can squish away.
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13. Apple Pie Craft
Here’s a way to make apple pie in school without baking. This cute apple paper plate craft will give the illusion of pie, using paint and paper plates. Use real apples to make the prints in the middle for that added apple touch.
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14. Alphabet Lacing Apple
Lacing activities are important for kids’ fine motor development. This ABC apple lacing craft is perfect to help them practice their literacy skills by following the alphabet. It can be used over and over in a center or taken home to practice with.
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15. Apple muffins
Baking is fun math and sensory activity but is something that cannot be done in most traditional school settings. These apple muffins will smell and taste great if you can make them. Kids can also prepare the ingredients in school and bake them at home. Just cut the apples in advance to speed things up and not have to worry about knife safety.
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16. Buttonworms and Apples
Learning how to fasten buttons is important. With this apple activity, kids will be getting those fingers going in no time at all. Tell them that the worms are hungry and they need to feed them. This is such a fun idea.
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17. Felt Apple Picking Page
This is simple to make and provides motor skills and counting practice for students. This 2D apple tree will also be satisfying to the senses. Felt activities are underused, but I believe that it’s worthwhile and a great addition to your sensory table.
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18. Building with Apple
Check out this fun activity. Just cut up some apples and let kids use their imagination to create. The possibilities are endless. Kids will love having some creative license while getting to play with food. Make sure you dip the apple pieces in lemon juice to keep them from turning brown and mushy.
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19. Paper Roll Apple Stamps
We all end up with empty cardboard tubes; now you can finally reuse them. Kids can use all the colors of apples to paint their apple orchards. This is such a cute apple-themed activity for toddlers.
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20. Applesauce Toppings Bar
My son’s class made applesauce in school just last week. The addition of the toppings is something new to me. Most kids have tried cinnamon in their applesauce, but maybe they’ll find some new favorite add-ins.
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21. Sticky Apple Tree
Many different activities come to mind here. You might follow what the original poster did with color matching, but they also lend themselves to countless other activities for toddlers.
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22. Apple Tree Craft
I adore this apple craft. Kids can do this using all apple colors and add as many or few as they’d like. Gluing on the pieces of tissue paper takes a great deal of time, so I would set aside plenty of time to assemble them.
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23. Apple Sensory Bin
Sensory bins are fun for many kids. This one uses little apple manipulatives and apple seeds to enhance the experience. Use whatever small tools you have to help develop motor skills while kids dig for the fallen apples. This is a great activity for toddlers to school-age children.
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24. Apple Sticker Sort
Colored stickers make this activity fun. Preschool kids get to practice color matching and fine motor skills while placing the sticker on the correct apple. Once the apples are covered, hang them up to decorate the room.
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25. Apple Pie Slime
Slime is preferred by some kids over play dough and is kind of like a science experiment. This recipe leaves kids with fun slime that smells like freshly baked apple pie. It makes the slime a little better for those of us that don’t like it.
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26. Apple Picking Game
This adorable apple-picking game is a fun-filled way to develop your little ones’ love of numbers. Simply set out a bunch of red pom-poms on a tree template before inviting them to roll a dice. Next, have them count the number of dots on their roll before encouraging them to remove that many pom-poms from the tree.
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27. Parts of an Apple Song
When you are teaching the parts of an apple, a song is perfect for teaching preschoolers. It’s the perfect addition to your apple science lessons and will help them remember the parts of an apple. Make sure you make this photo into a chart for them to follow as well.
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28. Sponge Painting
This apple art activity is sure to please. Kids can paint their apples any color they choose and sponge painting is a fun idea. They’ll also discover that they don’t always need a paintbrush to paint.
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29. Apple Graphing Activity
Kids take turn spinning and tallying up which color they land on until they fill up their whole chart with 3D apples made from play dough. This multi-sensory apple math activity will entertain your students without a doubt.
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30. Letter A Apple Sorting
Apple-themed literacy activities, such as this one, are just what you need this fall. Everything here is printable and I recommend laminating as well. Then kids can practice sorting the upper and lower case letters repeatedly.
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