Preschool Apple Theme

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September is such a great month to celebrate apples!

Talking about apples and apple trees at this time of year ties in very nicely with the fall season – not to mention it is Johnny Appleseed’s birthday on September 26th!

Here are a few of the fun crafts and activities we did in my 2-3 year old preschool classroom…

Apple Themed Books

The most effective way to launch a new topic to students is through literature. I make sure to gather up as many books on whatever theme we are celebrating as I can.

Here are a few suggestions that my class enjoyed…

PreK-Pages has 10 more amazing apple book suggestions HERE!

Apple Songs and Fingerplays

The song “Way Up High in the Apple Tree” is perfect for counting. I first heard about this wonderful fingerplay from Deborah at Teach Preschool.

I cut out some tree shapes and glued them to a piece of construction paper. Then I attached some cut out apples to the tree with tape.

We sang the song and made sure to act it out with hand motions. With each apple that fell off the tree, I had a student walk up to remove it from the tree.

You can find a great video of this song HERE.

2 other fun fingerplays and songs we did…

Put Your Apple In the Air from Teaching Mama (I gave each child a cut out paper apple to hold)
Apple Tree Action Rhyme from Let’s Play Music

Apple Orchard Pretend Play

I love pretending! It helps the kids learn so much about the world around them. I wish I had a photo of us at our pretend apple orchard, but I was too busy picking apples to take pictures!

Have your students pretend to get a basket, pick up a ladder and lean it against a pretend tree. I always pretend to almost fall over because the ladder is so heavy. Pretend to climb the tree, pick apples, and count them as you place them in your pretend baskets. Climb down the ladder, put the ladder away, pick up your basket and pretend to eat an apple! My apple had a worm in it – GROSS (the kids thought this was hilarious).

Apple Arts and Crafts

Here are a few of the crafts we did.

Paper Plate Apples HERE.
Toilet Roll Apple Trees HERE.
Happy Apples from First Grade Blue Skies.
Apple Stained Glass Windows HERE.

Apple Storytelling

I tell the magical Apple Star Story every year to my students and they LOVE it.

After I shared the story we made apple prints and saw the star show up on the paper!

Apple Activity and Printable

This little activity was great for reinforcing colors!

We would repeat the chant and I would call out the different colors and ask students one at a time to remove that color apple from the tree.

You can find the FREE Printable HERE at School Time Snippets.

Apple Trees and Playdough

We rolled little playdough apples and put them on a tree.

Next year I am going to use these ADORABLE FREE Printable Apple Orchard Playdough Mats from Living Well Mom.

Apple Science

We hypothesized together if the apples would sink or float in a bowl of water.

Then we used kitchen tongs to try to pick the apples out of the water (which ended up being really challenging and great for strengthening their little hands!).