“Apples A to Z” by Margaret McNamara

One of my favourite things about Autumn is apple season! Here in Ontario it lasts from August to October and we love apple picking. Along with our many annual Fall traditions and farm visits, I wanted to read more Fall themed books to the kids this year. To start, I found the sweetest, most informative nonfiction picture book called “Apples A to Z” by Margaret McNamara, illustrated by Jake Parker.

This fun, fact-filled alphabet book explores everything there is to know about apples! Bear, fox, pig, and rabbit explore the ABCs of apples from, Harvesting to Trees, Orchards to Varieties, each letter showcasing the different and interesting facts about apples.

This is a great book for preschoolers just learning their alphabet and they will love the adorable illustrations that fill each page.  This book is also fantastic for school-aged children who are passed learning their alphabet but want to learn new words (like deciduous), and some great facts about one of the most popular fruits in the world – APPLES!

Published by Scholastic.

Inspired Activities: Apple Arts, Crafts & Math

This past holiday Monday we spent our morning at one of my favourite local places to visit with the kids, The Apple Orchard.  With so many festivals and fairs having to shut down this year I was so grateful to be able to continue at least one of our many family annual traditions – apple picking!

So, to extend our family tradition we not only read a great book about apples, but we also did a lot of apple themed play and activities this week to celebrate this season!

Apple Stamps

Using a couple of apples that we recently harvested, I cut them in half and turned them into ‘apple stamps.’ I set out some green and red paint with white sheets of paper for the girls to use and they loved it. This was a super simple and fun painting activity that incorporates natural materials and lots of creativity. My oldest especially enjoyed this one. My youngest seemed a bit confused as to where the paint brushes were at!

Apple Paper Craft and Colouring

Another fun and simple activity my kids love to do is cut and paste. I created a simple apple colouring page and supplied the girls with red, green, and yellow scraps of paper and tissue paper to glue onto their apple.  I also provided some pencil crayons to give them the option of colouring in their apples. My 2-years-old especially enjoyed this one since gluing paper together is a relatively new activity for her.

Download the free printable to make your own apple paper craft here:

bookspirations.ca_applecraftDownload

Apple Number Hunting

I saw a similar idea like this online and absolutely loved the concept. So, I put together my own simple sheet for my youngest to use.  I wanted to include some S.T.E.M. play for her this week.

To create the activity: I cut out similar apple shapes using my cricut explore air 2 machine*, in red, yellow, and green paper. I then added number stickers to each apple (1-9) to correspond to the numbers on the sheet. The final step was laminating the sheet and the apples and then adding hook and loop pieces to each of apple so that they would stick to each other.

Once it was complete, it was time to hide the apples. So, with the help of big sis, my youngest went on an apple hunt, to find and match the apples to her corresponding sheet. She was marvelous at this task, and big sister was helpful but allowed her little sister to match the numbers herself with much encouragement from both of us. It was very sweet to watch them work together! ❤

Download the free printable to recreate your own apple hunt here:

bookspirations.ca_applehuntDownload

*Alternatively: print out two copies of this work sheet, one to use and one for cutting out the apples. The kids will love colouring in the apples themselves, and you can even skip the laminating part to further simplify this task.

The kid’s finished masterpieces

In a Library setting

It goes without saying, any theme play can be easily replicated in a library setting, especially if and when you have a large collection at your fingertips. Apple season and Autumn is a great time of year to create engaging and inviting book displays, especially with picture books! It is also a great time to create seasonal drop-in programs such as apple themed or Fall themed crafts and activities. The cut and paste craft are always a winner in libraries because it is cost effective, less messy than paint, and most all children of all ages can easily participate.

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