Apple Theme

Fall is approaching far too quickly, and I can't even wrap my head around how fast summer flew by, once again! However as the season is about to change, I am super excited to begin all the fun Fall and Holiday activities and play with my two boys! The holidays are such a fun time of the year, and I truly believe it starts with Fall! To kick off our Fall activities, we are doing an apple theme! This theme was so much fun to do with my littles. The hands-on activities were a blast! We did lots of sensory play throughout the past couple weeks.

Over these two weeks, we focused on the letter "P" and "N". For our letter and writing practice we are using the alphabet bundles that I have created, a combination of upper and lowercase letters. You can also add in the beginning sound "Find and Color" documents I created while working on your letters.

I created an apple theme bundle for you to download and do some or all of the activities with your littles! In the download, there is a "lesson plan" example and a template if you wish to change up your week! As a stay at home mom, the days get BUSY, so I enjoy having a loose idea of activities to have ready and pull out when we need some more structure!

Here is a look at some of the activities we did (download the file to see all the activities)!

Sensory and Hands-on Play: (more detailed directions on download)

• Apple picking - Whether at an orchard or simply the grocery store. It is exciting to pick out a variety of different apples.

• Apple washing - Involve your littles in washing the produce by setting up an apple washing sensory bin with some soap, water and scrubbers

• Playdough exploration - We made some apple pie spice scented play dough and it smelled delicious!! We added black beads and brown pipe cleaners for seeds and stems. (Playdough recipe on download!!)

• Sizzling apples - mix baking soda, water, and food coloring to form small ball shaped apples. Add a brown pipe cleaner on top and give your little some vinegar to watch the sizzling take place!

• Apple volcanoes - cut out the inside of the apple. Add baking soda and food coloring to the bottom of the apple. Have your littles slowly pour in volcano and watch the reaction!

• Chickpea sensory bin - We used red, green, and yellow paint to make apple colored chickpeas. We added pom poms and some tools to do color sorting and exploring!

• Fine motor q-tip push - print out apple downloads and tape onto cardboard. Dip q-tips in matching paint colors. Poke holes into cardboard! Have your little push q-tip into matching color apple!

• Apple stamping - Cut your apples in half and grab some paint and construction paper to make apple stamps!

• Apple letter or number real with watercolors - write out letters, numbers, or shapes on white paper with white crayon. Have your little use watercolors to reveal what was written!

• Apple pie play dough sensory play - use green and red apples, with brown pipe cleaners (cinnamon) and felt (lattices). Use the "apple pie recipe" download to count out the cinnamon, apples, and lattices!

Learning:

• Here is a little look at some of the activities you will be able to do from the construction bundle!

• Literacy activities includes: pre writing, name and letter recognition, beginning sounds

• Math: measuring, patterns, counting, number recognition, shapes

Grab your apple bundle for FREE here!!!

Supplies we used + some Amazon affiliate links!

• pom poms

• paint

• construction paper

• markers/crayons

• kid scissors

• clothespins

• play dough (we made our own this week!)

• dot stickers

• contact paper

• linking cubes

• dot markers

• baking soda and vinegar

• chickpeas

• paper fastener and paper clips

Hobby Lobby list:

• Mini pie pans

• Wooden leaves

• Tan felt

• Brown pipe cleaners