Apple Books and Crafts You Can Mix and Match

 

It's apple picking time! Reading books about apples is a fun way to get into the spirit of the Fall season. Pair an apple book with an apple craft for additional skill-building fun that targets your child's fine motor ability in a creative way. This post highlights 3 apple books and crafts that you can mix and match, so choose your favorites and enjoy!  

Life Cycle of an Apple, Picking Apples & Pumpkins, and The Apple Pie Tree are three apple-themed books that are highly educational. Learn about what is involved in a fun Fall outing by following a family on their trip to an orchard in Picking Apples and Pumpkins; learn all about the changing seasons in The Apple Pie Tree; and watch an Apple grow from a bud to a fruit in Life Cycle of an Apple.

After reading any of these books try:

1. A sequencing activity.  Put the events of the book in order. What comes first, next and last - the seed, a blossom, or the tree? Picking the apples or baking the pie? These books are also a great opportunity to talk about the words before and after.

2. Taking a trip to an apple orchard. Relate your experience to the book you read. Point out some of the new vocabulary you learned from the book.

3. Creating an apple craft. Practice additional skills and concepts by creating an apple craft. It's the perfect way to talk about colors, shapes, size while practicing fine motor skills in a creative way.

Here are 3 apple crafts that we created!



Mosaic Apple Sun Catcher 

A craft that can be done with infants through preschoolers, all you need is red and brown construction paper, colored tissue paper ripped into small pieces, sticky (or contact) paper, scissors, and a green pipe cleaner.

Cut out the contact paper and red construction paper into the shape of an apple. Let the child decorate the contact paper with the ripped tissue pieces, then cover with a second piece of contact paper and trim it to the shape of the apple. Add a stem and leaf as a finishing touch.

Glittery Green Apples

 

You'll need a small plastic bag, blue and yellow paint, a green pipe cleaner, thick white paper cut into the shape of an apple, glitter, glue, and a plastic container with a lid.

 



Put a few drops of the blue and yellow paints into the bag, and let your child mix them up to make green (note: please supervise small children when doing this craft).

Place the apple cut out into the bag, and "paint" the apple by playing with it some more!

Let the apple dry.

Grab the plastic container and place the dried apple into it and squeeze the glue on top of it. Add glitter to the container and then place the lid on it.

Last but not least, play some more! Toss the container about and shake it up. When you open it up, you'll have your glittery green apple! Just add a stem and admire.

Red Apples in a Tree

Grab a paper plate, brown construction paper cut into a tree trunk, glue, scissors, green paint and red finger paint, a small sponge, and a round cake pan.

Squirt the green paint into the cake pan, and use the sponge to "paint" the entire pan.

Place the paper plate, white side down, into the pan to make a print. Remove the plate and let it dry. Once dry cut off the rim of the plate.

Using the red finger paint, create apples with the tip of the index finger.

Finally, glue on your trunk to finish the piece.

Can't get enough apple stuff? Check out 20 Apple and Tree Activities for Kids from The Weekly Kids Co-Op