It is apple picking season in many parts of the country, and that makes it the perfect time to do an apple themed unit with your preschool or toddlers. From books about apples, to apple crafts, to apple songs and fingerplays, and recipes with apples, there are so many great ways to learn about apples with kids.
After a recent trip to the farmer's market, we made these paper plate apples:
This is a great craft to do with very young children, or a group with mixed ages. Even our youngest crafters had fun fingerpainting their apples:
Materials:
a white paper plate
red paint (a marker or crayon would work too)
brown construction paper
green construction paper
glue
scissors
Directions:
1. Paint your back of your paper plate red.
2. While paint is drying, cut out a rectangle out of brown construction paper for the apple's stem, and a leaf shape out of green construction paper.
3. Once paint is dry, glue the brown stem to the top center of your apple, and glue the leaf to one side of the stem.
OPTIONAL: You can also turn this craft into a great bulletin board display or gift for a parent or grandparent by having kids glue pictures of themselves to the centre of the apples, and writing the words "You're the apple of my eye" onto the front of the apple with a black marker, or "Our Students are the Pick of the Crop" to a header above the bulletin board.
Want to learn some more about apples or even do some cooking with apples?
