Apple Math

This last week, we did an apple theme here. I came up with a couple new pages for the week and thought I would share them here.

The first was inspired by Raegan's: 

Apple File Folder Game- Counting

I wanted to do this, but didn't want to do the file folder thing. So I made this. I printed it and laminated it. I can write whatever I want on the baskets with a dry erase or wet erase marker. I think you can print from the image, but if not, here is the link in my google documents.

I had her first sort the skittles into three different bowls, then she put the correct number into each basket.

This was inspired by my 

Apple Seed Counting

I wanted to put the seeds on the apple and have the kids do math with them. The idea here is you put seeds in each apple, then the child counts and writes how many under the apple. You decide if the child is doing addition, subtraction, multiplication, division...write that in the square between the apples. The child writes the answer on the provided line. I liked this because I can use the same sheet for all three of my children. I laminated it so I don't have to do a bunch of printouts. My kids get a big kick out of using the markers to write. Here is the link in Google Documents.

Apple Unit Ideas

We must love apples around here because we have lots of ideas for you with apples.

Baked Apples with Cranberries

Paper Plate Apple {plus fine motor bonus}

Simple Apple Sort

Blast from the Past: Apple Prints

Apple Books

Handprint Apple Tree

Apple Seed Counting

Apple File Folder Game- Counting

Apple Sort

Fruit Bowl Math

Miniature Candy-ish Apples

Turkey Apple

Fall Craft: Apples & Thankfulness

Apple Unit for Toddlers

And how about some ideas from Pinterest

Diagram of an Apple

Apple-Themed Activity Pack

Apple Unit (First Grade)

Long List of Apple Ideas

Apple Printables

L is for Leaves

This was a fun activity that incorporated a fun fall hunt, fine motor skills, letter review, sensory, gluing practice, and lots of teachable moments on the walk!

Before the walk we talked about:

*Color of changing leaves

*Items that represent fall

*What to collect, what to avoid

Then off we went! We collected pine needles, pine cones, crunchy leaves, leaves that are just changing, acorns, dried branches, and anything else that represented fall.

For this activity it's best to make sure you collect some crunchy leaves.

We played some I/eye spy games:

"I spy with my little eye, something squirrels collect!"

Then at home, with a previously prepared Ll paper, they crunched and smashed the leaves, and sprinkled them like glitter over a glued surface.

L is for leaves. Enjoy!

Candy Corn Tissue Art

Here is a fun and simple Halloween activity that is also benign (meaning, it is not scary in the least. Another bonus, for those of you who don't like Halloween, it is a seasonal activity that is about candy, not Halloween). 

Kaitlyn did this in her preschool class this year. You can see it is rather simple-- white triangle and tissue paper squares. The tissue paper was not glued (hence the missing square), but rather was dipped in water and put on the paper wet. When it dried, it stuck.

Here is the cool possible bonus. Kaitlyn's teacher has done this in the past, but the tissue paper bled onto the paper, so the color transferred. That is what she was going for (she didn't know what happened--apparently the tissue paper brand or type might be of importance). If yours does bleed, you would want to remove the tissue paper before it dried so it didn't stick to the white paper.

I am going to try this out with different tissue papers and see if I can figure out which papers work for bleeding. My guess is the waxy feeling paper will not bleed while the rougher feeling paper will. I am starting with cheap dollar store paper...I will keep you updated when I have answers, but until then, I wanted you to have the chance to do this if you wanted! 

Candy Corn Puzzles

I thought this would be a good activity to work on sizes. I prepped the activity by precutting the pieces, creating small, medium and large pieces similar to candy corn. If you can tell in the picture, I also drew the outline of the candy corn on the black paper. This step probably wasn’t needed though. J glued the pieces in order (small, medium, large) to create the candy corn. I did have examples of candy corn out since he’d never seen them before.  This was simple to prep and good practice for J.

We also used this same concept to create door knob hangars for J’s cousins. I precut the black paper, including the circle for the door knob and J decorated it with a smaller version of the candy corn puzzles and adding their name. Later I covered them with clear contact paper for durability. You could also use foam or cardstock if you didn’t want to “laminate” them.






Becca also blogs at Fun and Engaging Activities for Toddlers

Baked Apples with Cranberries

This is cooking project we did after apple picking last year. I found the recipe in the mail from my grocery store and knew it was something J could do with me. I had all the ingredients, so we could do it right away!
Baked Apples with Cranberries
1. Preheat oven to 375*F. Core the apples, leaving the bottom closed (creating a small bowl in the apple). Peel the top half of the apple.
2. Fill the apple with dried cranberries (I used frozen and it was fine).
3. Top with a spoon of brown sugar, 1/2 tsp of butter and sprinkle with cinammon.
4. Bake for 35-45 minutes (until the apples are soft).
J helped with steps 2 and 3 and then of course helped with eating. This was a simple cooking project for him. You can make just one or a dozen. I really decided to do this last minute because I had all the ingredients, no planning required.
I forgot to take end result pictures of my own, this is from Nicola’s Blog (ours did not look so pretty anyway!)

This would be a good recipe for any age toddler, even the youngest could manage this. Preschoolers could accomplish it mostly on their own. You could create a picture list for them to follow on their own. All ingredients are safe for taste sampling if they get distracted while “cooking” and if they were to add more than the actual recipe called for, no harm done. Use a spoon or tongs for adding the cranberries and you’ve included some fine motor skill practice.



Becca also blogs at Fun and Engaging Activities for Toddlers

Fabulous Fall Fun: Playing in Leaves

If your children are like mine, you already know that leaves=fall fun. Did you ever think about the learning value to playing in leaves? We have little child-sized rakes for our children. They work on their gross motor skills as they rake leaves, jump in the piles, and toss the leaves in the air.

They also get some great sensory input as they touch the leaves with their hands and feel them crackle. 

It is also a great time to learn scientifically about the changing leaves. Why do they fall from the trees? Why do they change colors? Why do they only do this in the Autumn? So as you enjoy your Fall weather, be sure to include a fun leaf-jumping activity and have fun while learning.

Spaghetti Spider Web and Handprint Spider

This is another activity we did last year, perfect for October. It accompanied one of his favorite books at the time, Eric Carle’s The Very Busy Spider. 

CREATING THE WEB: I decided to do this last minute since I had all the materials on hand anyway (anyone notice a trend here...we do A LOT of last minute activities!). All you need is cooked spaghetti, glue, and wax paper. Dip the spaghetti into the glue and then lay it onto the wax paper. When finished, let the glue dry completely and then peel it off the wax paper. It’s possible we used too much glue since after J was finished, I went back and drop some glue on the spots where the spaghetti overlapped.  The extra glue did help the “web” stick together, but made it hard to remove from the wax paper.  Obviously J's web is quite sporadic and not at all symmetrical, but boy did he have fun!

CREATING THE SPIDER: We traced J's handprints on black paper and then I helped him cut them out (removing the thumbs). J glued the palm portion of the handprints on top of each other, creating the spider's body and legs.  Next J glued black sponge curlers onto the spider body (you could use black pompoms).   The last step was adding the googly eyes.

J loved this activity, especially making the web. It was really easy but quite unique.









Becca also blogs at Fun and Engaging Activities for Toddlers.

Fall Books 2011

Here are five more book recommendations for your reading this Fall!

Colors of Fall by Laura Purdie Salas

This is a new book that talks about the colors you can see in fall and uses photos.






Autumn Is for Apples by Michelle Knudsen

It can be hard to find apple books that hold the interest of younger readers. This one is simple and rhyming, which really holds the interest of the young.




Amelia Bedelia's First Apple Pie by Herman Parish

This is another new book this Fall. We were lucky enough to stumble across it at the library, but quickly had it snatched away by a requestor! Anyway, if anyone can make apples fun, it is Amelia Bedelia. It is a great introduction to Amelia Bedelia to get your child interested in her character young before moving on to the pre-chapter books later in preschool years.

Who Loves the Fall? by Bob Raczka

This is a fun rhyming book about the wonders of fall. This is fun for preschoolers and younger.




Duck & Goose Find a Pumpkin by Tad Hills

These characters might be familiar to your child. This is a funny book your child will love.

Fall Shape Tree

Brayden made this fun project in first grade.

Supplies

• construction paper
• scissors
• glue

Activity

Have your child draw and cut out a tree trunk if appropriate. If not, do that ahead of time. Then have your child cut out various shaped leaves from different colors and glue to the tree. Again, if your child is not ready for scissors, you cut out the shapes ahead of time. Talk about the different colors and shapes as you go. When you are done you will have a fun fall picture!

Edible Acorns.... almost

Ok, so I would truly attempt to eat these acorns, but feel free to snack while crafting!

This was one of our autumn activities from last year. It’s fun, cute and easy prep (using things I already had around the house).
Before hand, I cut out a square with cardboard (the original activity said to use a paper bag, but I didn’t have any). I also drew the acorn onto the cardboard.

I first had J use a brown crayon to color the “hat” of the acorn and a white crayon for the bottom. He then glued the chocolate unto the hat and the oats onto the bottom. We focused on trying to fill the ENTIRE hat/bottom, making that the goal. At 30 months, that was an accomplishment! Fortunately he had no idea you could EAT the chocolate and so didn’t try until I suggested it (when he was finished with his acorn).

Once the glue was dry we emptied the excess and our final products:


Becca also blogs at Fun and Engaging Activities for Toddlers.

Leaf Rubbings

Rubbings are a great activity that seem magical to children.

Supplies

• Paper
• Leaves (not dry)
• Crayon with paper removed

Activity

Take your paper and put it over the leaves. Turn the crayon on its side and rub it all over the paper to reveal the print of the leaves. Easy and awesome!

Fall Round-up 2011

Counting Down November

A fun counting game to get you through November!











Fall Books 2009Great Fall books

Fall Books 2010Even more great Fall booksFall Do-A-Dot

No doubt one of my favorite activities ever shared by Raegan!























Falling Leaves Picture
A great activity for Toddlers especially.
















Fall: Nature Walk

A fun way to collect Fall items on your walk.











Fall Scenery

Absolutely adorable bulletin board for Fall!








Fall: Texture Sort
A great way to get sensory and sorting into your season.







Fall Wreath

It is always nice when your activity creates a nice decoration for the season!











Family Outings

Leaf Man

This activity coincides with the book Leaf Man.










Peanut Butter Pumpkins

Um, yum. Super, super yum.







Pitch a Tent!
Fun fall activity!








Pumpkin Faces
A fabulous shape activity.







Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins



Carving and painting pumpkins!









Sponge Painting Fall Leaf Picture

This is great for children of all ages. Even a toddler can make something that looks like an actual tree!