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Fall is almost here and soon we’ll see apples everywhere! Apples come in many colors and forms (apple cider is my favorite!) As I wander the grocery stores and Apple Hill (a local apple tree farm), I can’t help but be in awe of all the colors! There are so many different colors of apples and each one has a slightly different flavor.
One of my favorite things to teach with apples is that, although they are all different, they all have the same parts! They are all apples! This fun activity teaches colors, numbers, prewriting skills, and more!
What you need:
- 1 Green Apple
- 1 Red Apple
- 1 Yellow Apple
- 1 Box of Crayons
- 3 Pieces of White Paper
- 1 Knife (for adult use only)
- 1 spoon (optional)
Steps:
- Color one side of one paper yellow.
- Color one side of one paper red.
- Color one side of one paper green.
- Place each apple on the paper that matches the color of the apple skin.
- Say to your child: “Let’s look at these apples. Do they look like the same color?”
- Find the color crayon that matches each color apple. Place the crayon next to the same color apple.
- Have an adult cut each apple down to the core. Ask your child, “Do the apples look the same inside? Do they smell the same?”
- Let’s taste each apple. Do they taste the same?
- Now let’s find the core! Use your fingers, or a spoon, to take out the seeds from each apple core. Make sure to keep them on the same color paper of the apple they came out of.
- Turn the paper over to the white side.
- Trace the seeds that came out of each apple!
- Ask your child, “How many are there? Write the number of seeds on that side.”
- Which apple had the most seeds? Which apple had the least amount of seeds?
- Time to eat the apples! Are you going to eat them whole, make apple sauce or apple juice in a blender?
What did your child learn?
There are so many things your child learned during this activity!
- Matching
- Sorting
- Colors
- One to One Correspondence (Counting)
- More vs. Less
- Fine motor development
- Pre-Writing Skills
- Numeral Knowledge
- Following simple directions
- Using words to describe objects
This activity is loads of fun, and can be done with other fruits or veggies too, like oranges, strawberries, pumpkins, and watermelon! What other fall foods will you do this with?
What’s next?
Now we have three amazing apples cut and ready to be eaten, but the learning doesn’t have to stop here!
Take their “delicious” interest to the next level by practicing addition, subtraction, and patterning skills with apple slices!
This is a great time for a snack. Slice each of the apples into 8 slices and place them on the table in front of your child. Have them put 5 red apple slices on their plate and 3 yellow apple slices on their plate. Ask them to eat one slice of each color, then count how many are left (4 red slices and 2 yellow slices!)
Next, ask your child to add two red slices and 2 yellow slices to their mix! Have them count how many of each color is on their plate (6 red slices and 4 yellow slices)!
Repeat this activity two or three more times!
Let’s add in some green apple slices! Patterning apple slices is as easy as apple pie!
Have your child put the slices in order with two and three-part patterns like these examples:
- Red, green, red, green, red, green
- Red, green, yellow, red, green, yellow
- Yellow, red, yellow, red, yellow, red
- Yellow, red, green, yellow, red, green
How many more patterns can you come up with?
Now that your littles have expressed interest in apples and know how delicious they are, let’s plan some apple baking days! What are you going to make first? I know my preschoolers love to make apple cobbler and eat it too!
If you are looking for a way to teach colors and the alphabet through play, check out “Sammy Chases the Alphabet,” as Sammy, the golden retriever plays fetch with the alphabet around his farm!
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