We had an absolute BLAST with our apple fun day yesterday! Check it out….there are FREE downloads at the end :-)
A few weeks ago, I made the cute little felt apples (24 of them). They were super easy to make and we used them for so many things! To make one, all you need is colored felt (apple color, off white, brown and green), thread and some pins to hold it together while you sew. Cut 2 apple shapes, a middle white shape and the stem and leaf. Sew the middle part onto one apple colored piece. Now put the back apple colored piece on (putting the stem and leaf up the top of the apple)….hold it all together with pins while you sew around it. It really didn’t take me long to make at all…….you could always use colored paper cut into apple shapes if you don’t like to sew :-) Here’s what we used our apples for :
We counted apple seeds and made apple patterns (I made red, yellow, light green and dark green apples so there was opportunity for LOTS of different patterns).
Channing was able to make an apple graph (by himself) and do some addition (using two apples and some “seeds” – dried black beans).
These pictures turned out REALLY small (and here I was thinking they’d be REALLY big!)……so I know you can’t see it well but the top picture shows Channing using an apple basket counting mat (available in the download), some mega big pom poms and tongs……the mat is included in the download for you :-)
The bottom picture was Channing’s favorite activity of the day….”Where’s Winslow?”…..Winslow is a worm who kids behind apple numbers. In the download I have included the numbers to 20 but Channing and I just played with the numbers up to 10. Spread the numbers out, hide Winslow behind one and give your child 3 guesses to find him (they must say the number name before turning the card over)……we played this for AGES!!!
We made some apple prints (for a craft you’ll see further down the page) and then measured how tall we were with apple (we made a guess first).
We read “Johnny Appleseed” by Jodie Shepherd (a hit) and them made these adorable pot hats. These took all of 5 minutes to make and Channing LOVED it (he wore it most of the da…..Sully’s on the other hand lasted all of 2 minutes before it was torn off). All I used was black construction paper….cut it length ways and stapled it to fit his head. I then added the handle. We cut out apple shapes, glued them on our hat and added a name plate……..SIMPLE!!! I added little black lines around the apple shapes to make them look a little cuter too.
We also completed these crafts (included in the download). The apple one goes along with a poem (that you can also download).
Channing was able to make a graph out of the apples (by himself) and then we did some apple addition (using two apples and “seeds” – dried back beans).
After all that, it was time for a snack…..and a
delicious one at that! How cute are these mini caramel apples!?! Again, these were sooooo easy to make! I put a dob of caramel in the bottom of a mini cupcake liner. Next I used a melon baller to make a “mini” apple. I stuck a candy stick in the apple and them squished it in the caramel. You could be adventurous and add M&M’s etc. but with Sully’s peanut allergy, all of that is out in our house! We did drizzle some chocolate syrup on t5hem though…….They were delicious (and just the right size for a sweet snack).
The apple wreath was my favorite part of the day!!! I saw this idea
here and LOVED it! We printed out apples earlier in the day so they would dry. I cut out a large circle out of brown scrapbooking card (you could use a cut out paper plate) and we glued our apples on. We added a stem (we used colored paper but you could use a stick or pipe cleaners) and a green heart leaf (you could paint this when you do the apples if you wanted). We them added some raffia bow and some apple “seeds” (dried beans). This will be hanging in the service porch of our student home tonight :-)
This mini unit will soon be listed in my
TPT store.
You’ll find the apple counting mat, a pattern recording paper. an addition paper, the Johnny Appleseed craft, the apple poem craft, Where’s Winslow? game and a fun apple paper (which I didn’t include in any of the pictures above).
Click on the
picture above to download the apple poem cards. My aim with these cards is to print, laminate and then stick them on a ring clip so that by the end of the year I’ll have a bunch of poems at my fingertips!
I hope you’ll use and enjoy these activities. If you do download them, I’d love a comment (it always makes me happy to know that other people can use what I create).
Happy Apple season everyone!
