Happy Birthday Johnny Appleseed

Since I spend a whole week on each theme, this week we will be learning about who Johnny Appleseed was and explore apples. 

We read a fun book about Johnny Appleseed and made a pan hat just like him. I do this with my kids to get them excited for the week ahead:

I collected cereal boxes and cut them into rectangles/squares, and covered them up with foil. I had the children print their name. helped me staple the pot handle. we measured their heads and reenacted how to plant an apple tree.


For reinforcement on what we've learned, I normally play a short Youtube video, review any songs I've taught them, vocabulary or facts about our theme. 

I haven't met a child who doesn't like to watch movies/TV, so I find this to be a entertaining and an effective way to help the children remember about the days activities. Here is a Youtube clip I found and use in my classroom:

YOUTUBE: The Legend of Johnny Appleseed

Do you teach the children any songs during this unit?

Apple Tasting

What a fun way for the children to explore their 5 senses, graph their favorites and review the life cycle of an apple.

We had apple rounds, and after each round the children would give me a thumbs up or thumbs down and I would graph the results. We tried:
Apple chips
Apple bar
Apple Sauce
Apple cider
Apple juice
Carmel apples

below is the graph I made, feel free to download it and use it :)

We also compared the difference in taste between the apple juice and cider.

last but not least, we tried caramel apples and to my surprise the majority of the kids did not enjoy them.

Apple-solutely Fun

This is always a fun way to review numbers, counting or introduce addition.

 For those children who are more advance this is a fun art activity  to  teach them how to read and form a proper equation.

Here are some snap shots from our other apple centers.

Simple ABA patterns for my 3-year-old preschoolers. For those students who already knew how to finish a pattern, I made another set with that would challenge them.  

Here is the Apple patterns you can download them for free directly from www.spelloutloud.com

Station #3 Sorting beads by color. What a sneaky way to help strengthen their fine-motor skills. You can also use tongs to make it slightly more challenging.  I found this idea on Childcareland.com

To download the apple sorting worksheet click on the link below. Once you get on the site, be sure to look for the apple bead video , and below the "how to video" will be a pattern link to download the free printable. 

apple-pony-beard-sorting

We also practiced making apple pie, before the big day with playdough.

Another fun activity for the kids is making apple trees with their hands. The only part of this project I help them with is pressing their hand/arm down to make the branches and trunk.

 This allows them to freely explore and express their creativity however they'd like.

Are there any other favorite apple crafts or activities your little ones enjoy doing?

All About Apples

Here is a sneak peek at a science activity for apple week. I will be posting some suggested open-ended questions, vocabulary to review and apple facts to help make this fun baking activity just as educational as the rest of the week.

Reviewing the different parts of an apple.

This is a fun way to help children practice and improve their fine-motor skills. 

After 4 days of play-dough apple pie practice, they had the opportunity to slice their own real apples, as well as make their own strips for their mini apple pie.

Stirring this sticky, thick, deliciousness was a bit of a challenge for my little ones, but they all wanted a turn! 

They each made their own apple pie.

 

LOOK HOW CUTE THEY CAME OUT!

 

 

*make sure to draw a sketch of your cupcake pan , so you don't get their mini pies mixed up. I placed a piece of tape and/or permanent marker strip to know the front. 

EAT & ENJOY for snack!

Learning is fun, with this baking activity your students will be so eager to see find out what they will be learning about the following week. 

Feel free to contact me or comment if you have any questions! I'd love to hear from you!

Ten Apples on Top

Math: Counting & Science: Life cycle

We read Ten apples on top, cut and pasted the life cycle of an apple seed and made a cute photo craft. 

Above is a super cute and catchy song of Ten Apples on Top. The kids loved it and were captivated by the bright color illustrations and cool tune. 

They were posted to the white board and were able to take them home at the end of the day.

These fun activities are a great way to practice their fine-motor skills: coloring, cutting and gluing.