Apples Theme Learning Activities and Shelf

OH, how I love Fall! We are kickstarting our amazing fall with a whole shelf of fun Apples theme learning activities! To read more about how we do learning at home with our theme based learning shelf, I encourage you to read our How HTS Works page first. To know why we do theme based learning, check out this page.

Apples Theme Learning Shelf

• Unique Hashtag on Instagram: #applesHTS
• Pinterest board: Fall/ Autumn Theme
• Focus Books: 10 Apples Up On Top! by Theo Lesieg, Apple Farmer Annie by Monica Wellington and Apples by Gail Gibbons

More Apples theme ideas:

• Balance the Apples Steam Activity by Days with Grey
• Cardboard Apple Weaving by Hello, Wonderful

This learning shelf and the activities are created for children of ages 1.5 years old to 6 years old. My son was 5 years 6 months old and my daughter was 3 years 2 month old when I made this learning shelf for them. All the activities have been categorized into the six main learning areas (language, numeracy, motor skills, discovery of the world, arts & creative expression, social & emotional development) that I am focusing on for my children.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES FOR TODDLERS (1.5 TO 3 YEARS OLD)

• Balance the applesauce pouch caps on the egg carton ‘apples’. (fine motor skills)

• Paste dot sticker apples on TP roll apple trees according to the numbers on the trees. (numeracy, fine motor skills)

• Arrange TP roll apple trees from tallest to shortest or vice versa. (numeracy)

• Stack the red pouch caps on a soft toy animal. This activity is inspired by the book 10 Apples Up On Top! Count along as the kid puts the pouch caps on top of each other. (numeracy, fine motor skills)

• Sorting letters on the apple cards (language)

• Thread the pipe cleaner caterpillar and yarn through the Apple Paper Plate. Use pipe cleaner as a safe needle for children. For young toddlers, let them thread through any holes they wish. For older toddlers who knows their numbers, challenge them to thread the yarn through the holes according to the number sequence. (numeracy, fine motor skills)

• Apple & Caterpillar Letter Matching Activity (language)

LEARNING ACTIVITIES FOR PRESCHOOLERS & KINDERGARTENERS (3 TO 6 YEARS OLD)

• Play a game of apples sight words tic tac toe. Write 12 sight words on 12 apple cards. Choose 9 and put them in a 3 by 3 grid. Write the same 12 sight words in each well of an egg carton box. Toss a pompom and see which word the pom pom lands on. Place a popsicle stick caterpillar (or any suitable counters) on the apple cards. Game ends when there are 3 apples with caterpillars in a straight line. Change the word apple cards and play this fun game again! (language)

• Sorting the characters in his Chinese name on the apple cards (language)

• Throw the 2 dice, add up the numbers and balance the number of applesauce pouch caps on the egg carton ‘apples’. (numeracy, fine motor skills)

• Stack the red pouch caps on a soft toy animal. This activity is inspired by the book 10 Apples Up On Top! Count along as the kid puts the pouch caps on top of each other. (numeracy, fine motor skills)

• Divide the apples among the number of people on each card. I provided 12 pouch caps and cards with 2, 3, 4 and 6 people. (numeracy)

• Thread the pipe cleaner caterpillar and yarn through the Apple Paper Plate according to the number sequence. (numeracy, fine motor skills)

• Apple & Caterpillar Letter Matching Activity (language)

• Draw and learn about the anatomy of an apple. We talked about how there are many kind of apples. I invited my son to create his own apple and name it. (discovery of the world)

Who’s excited about Fall too? Check out our Fall theme shelf from last year with this huge cardboard tree too! More fun theme learning shelves here. Did you make a theme learning shelf too? Share it with me!