22 Apple-licious Classroom Activities and Freebies

Apple activities for the classroom along with freebies that are purely apple-licious! You’ll find cute Johnny Appleseed, science, crafts, poems and printables to complete your apple theme lesson plans. These teacher created ideas will help you finish out your fall fun and get your students learning.

Share your tip or idea by uploading it to the Teach Junkie community so we can ooh and ahh over it! No blog needed, but if you have a blog, be sure to leave your link so we can read more there if you have more to share. {wink}

Simple Crafts

Coffee Filter Apple Art – With this cute craft your students will be working with markers, coffee filter and spray bottles. This gives your students the opportunity to work on fine motor skills and gives you another classroom decoration to compliment your fall theme.

Short Vowel Words – Have your students slide the popsicle stick worm through the apple to create short words. A great way to work on word families and building up reading cvc skills. This would make a great center activity and get your kids reading.

Simple Paper Bag Apple – Brown paper bags are boring no more! Stuff a paper bag, twist the top and paint it red. You can even cut an apple in half and use it as your brush. This project will make for great window sill decor or for your classroom bulletin board.

Apple Print Card – Take this fun poem describing the miracle of the apple and paste it inside an apple-shaped card. Students will also be able to get hands-on by stamping the inside with an apple cut in half. This teacher uses it to reinforce sight words. It would also be a nice grandparent’s day card with a picture of the student on the back.

Seed and Core Printable – Simple project for the kiddos of cutting and gluing, making a nice apple display. This printable includes the template for cutting the apple, core, stem and leaves. Save real seeds from your science to add to the core. A perfect touch to accompany any writing projects!

Handprint Apples in a Basket – This was just too cute to pass up! These apples are made from painted palm prints. Spread red paint on, if you are brave enough {wink}, and create a basket full of apples. Turn it into a math activity by figuring out how much the basket would cost if you’re working on skip counting and write the math equations to match.

Johnny Appleseed Activities

Johnny Appleseed Pot Hat – This time of year Johnny of course will come up, so while making one the apple crafts your students can wear an Appleseed hat. This pot hat is made from construction paper and would also work out great for retelling the story of Johnny Appleseed or for a class program.

Johnny Appleseed Facts – Get your students working on fact vs. opinion by creating a class chart together of Johnny Appleseed facts. Take any of the crafts above to add to your interactive writing and you’ve got a year-long chart worthy of displaying.

Apple Education – Science

Life Cycle of the Seed – Cute printable to practice sequencing the life cycle of the seed. It has pictures of the apple, harvest, blossom, apple tree, apple seed and apple pie… which is a rather yummy way to end a set of sequencing pictures {if you ask me}. Students cut and glue them in order under a tent card with flaps.

Non-Fiction Features Mini Book – Working on learning the features of non-fiction in first grade? Here is a mini-book that will have your students practicing labels, captions and more using all that they know about apples!

Science Centers – These science centers cover measuring weight, distance around, and floating using non-standard units. Your kiddos will have a blast predicting and running their own experiments on an apple. They will be a bunch of “mad” apple scientists!

Life Cycle of the Tree -This is a simple worksheet that will create a good visual for learning the life cycle of an apple tree. Students can draw or use art supplies like paint and tissue paper to complete it. Great for kindergarten!

Inside/Outside Comparison – Work on adjectives by comparing the inside to the outside of an apple. This simple activity is a great way to get your scientists focused on using their five senses to describe. It will also make a great anchor chart for apple-themed words to use during other explorations.

Life Cycle Video – This cute song takes the life cycle of an apple through the various stages – focusing on when a plant is ready to grow. Your kids might start dancing to this awesome diddy and it will catch on. Perfect for playing while working on a craft or as you plant your own apple seeds.

Apple Poems

Eating Apples Poem – This poem is a cute way to build in shared reading into your apple theme. It says, “Apple juicy, apples round, On the tree or on the ground. Apples yellow, apples red, apple pie and juice and bread! Apples crunchy, apples sweet. Apples are so good to eat!” Have your class help illustrate like this teacher or turn it into a class book and have a pair of students each illustrate a page.

Fingerprint Painted Apples – Looking for a printable to make quickly? This easy poem will be super-sweet with your students’ fingerprints as apples. What a great gift to send home, to use for grandparents day or as a picture to accompany a photo from your apple orchard field trip.

Printable

Basic Skills Pack – This pack is huge! It covers all of your basic preschool and some kindergarten writing, math, sorting, beginning sounds and a ton more. Great to use in your guided reading groups and for use with intervention groups if students need some extra support or language work.

KWL Chart – Find out what students KNOW, WANT to know, and LEARNED with this Apple KWL printable. Have students each write their own or use a classroom anchor chart as a place to start from.

Non-Standard Measuring – Get measuring! Bring non-standard units of apples into the fun as your students measure themselves and compare their height to other objects in the classroom. Printable apples are included in the download just to make it easy for you. Print and go!

Counting and Colors Booklet –  Basic counting to 5 is the target of this printable. It’s a counting and coloring booklet all about apples that feature the color words. Students will giggle at the ending and be able to read it themselves. Perfect for the beginning of kindergarten.

Seasons of an Apple Tree – Label the four seasons of an apple tree with the free printable worksheet. An easy worksheet for sequencing and writing practice. Make it more artsy by using tissue paper to create puffs for the apples and blossoms and green and brown tissue laid flat to cover the tree in winter and fall.

Seed Activity Worksheet – Who doesn’t like dice games, especially when learning is involved? Roll the dice and mark each side of the apple with the corresponding seeds to create a math problem. What an easy way to get apples into your math centers and stations.

More Freebies and Printables:

• Think Before You Speak Printable Posters
• 10 Scientific Method Tools to Make Science Easier
• 65 Printable Games {Teacher Created} on Teach Junkie
• 12 Easy Cause and Effect Activities and Worksheets

Thanks to these teachers for their free downloads and creative lesson ideas.  Your tips are fantastic! Feel free to grab the “I’m a Featured Teach Junkie” blog button as your ideas are definitely worth the shout out.