Five Red Apples
(counting rhyme - author unknown)

Five red apples hanging in a tree,
The juiciest apples you ever did see.
The wind came by and gave an angry frown,
And one little apple came tumbling down.

Four red apples…..etc.
 

Grandpa’s Farm
(jump rope rhyme - author unknown)

I went down to grandpa’s farm,
Billy goat chased me round the barn.
Chased me up the apple tree,
Butted the tree to get at me.
How many apples round and red,
Fell on that old billy goat’s head?
1, 2, 3, etc.
 

Apples

Apples
Apples,
Apples,
Apples.
We love apples.

Big apples,
Little apples,
Medium sized apples.
We love apples.

Sweet apples,
Sour apples,
Just right apples.
We love apples.

Crunchy apples,
Mushy apples,
Juicy apples.
We love apples.

But not rotten apples---
We HATE them!
 

Do You Know the Apple Man?
Sung to tune of  “The Muffin Man”

Oh, do you know the Apple Man,
The Apple Man, The Apple Man?
Oh, do you know the Apple Man
He planted apple seeds.

He wore a pot upon his head,
Upon his head, upon his head.
He wore a pot upon his head.
His name was Johnny Appleseed.

John Chapman was his real name,
His real name, his real name.
John Chapman was his real name;
But, we call him Johnny Appleseed.

An Apple a Day
The Seasons of Arnold’s Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons
The Apple Pie Tree
I Am an Apple by Jean Marzollo
Johnny Appleseed by Steven Kellogg
Johnny Appleseed by Madeline Olsen
Apples, Apples, Apples by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace
Apples and Pumpkins by Anne Rockwell
Big Red Apple by Tony Johnston

Apple Fractions by Jerry Pallotta

Crunchy Munchy Class Book

This idea was posted by Kerry on the Kinderkorner webring. Use an adaptation of this poem:

I like apples.
MUNCH! MUNCH! MUNCH!
I like apples.
CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH!

Change it to make it interactive with the names of the students in the class. Instead of changing
the crunchy things, it could be used like this:

______________ likes apples.
MUNCH! MUNCH! MUNCH!
______________ likes apples.
CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH!

Sarah likes apples.
MUNCH! MUNCH! MUNCH!
Robert likes apples.
CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH!
 

We Have Apples Up on Top Class Book

After reading the book "Ten Apples Up on Top" create a class book by writing this sentence on each page:
__________ has _________ apples up on top. Each child picks an apple with a number on it and glues that number of apples on top of their picture--red circle stickers could be used.)

I used the poem above to make a class book. Part of the poem appears beneath each child's photo.

Rotten Apple Game
Write words, letters, numbers you want to reinforce on apple cutouts. Draw a worm on one or two apples. Place apples face down. Students take turns drawing an apple. If they can read what is on it, they may keep it. If they get a rotten apple, they put all of their apples back.

Predictable Chart

After observing and touching a green, yellow and red apple of varying sizes, each child contributed a descriptive word to a predictable chart about apples. We reread the chart for several days.

Apple Bingo
Draw squares on an apple shape and write letters, numbers or words that need reinforcement in each square. Seeds can be used for markers and drawn in the free space.

     There was once upon a time a little boy named John who was tired of all his toys and tired of all his picture books and tired of all his play.
     “What shall I do?” he asked his mother. His dear mother, who always knew beautiful things for little boys to do, said, “You shall go on a journey and find a little red house with no doors and with a star inside.”
     Then John’s eyes grew big with wonder. “Which way shall I go?” he asked, “to find a little red house with no doors and a star inside?”
     “Go down the lane and past the farmer’s house and over the hill”, said his mother. “Come back as soon as you can and tell me all about your journey.”
     So John put on his jacket and his hat and started out.
     He had not walked very far down the lane when he came to a merry little girl dancing along in the sunshine.
     “Do you know where to find a little red house with no doors and a star inside?” John asked her.
     The little girl laughed, “Ask my father, the farmer,” she said.
     So John went on until he came to the great brown barn where the farmer kept barrels of fat potatoes and baskets of yellow squash and orange pumpkins. The farmer himself stood in the doorway looking out over the green pastures and yellow grain fields.
     “Do you know where I shall find a little red house with no doors and a star inside?” John asked the farmer.
     The farmer laughed too. “I’ve lived a great many years and I never saw one,” he chuckled, “but ask Granny who lives at the foot of the hill. She knows how to make molasses taffy and popcorn balls and red mittens. Perhaps she can tell you.”
     So John went further still until he came to Granny sitting in her pretty garden of herbs and marigolds. She was as wrinkled as a walnut and as smiling as the sunshine.
     “Please, dear Granny,” said John. “Where shall I find a red house with no doors and a star inside?”
     Granny was knitting a red mitten and when she heard the little boy’s question she laughed so cheerily that the wool ball rolled out of her lap and down to the pebbly path.
     “I should like to find that little house myself,” she chuckled. “It would be warm when the frosty nights come and the starlight would be prettier than a candle. But ask the wind who blows about so much and listens at all the chimneys. Perhaps the wind can tell you.”
     So John took off his hat politely to Granny and went up the hill rather sadly. He wondered if his mother, who usually knew everything, had perhaps made a mistake.
     The wind was coming down the hill as the little boy climbed up. As they met, the wind turned about and went along, singing, beside the little boy. It whistled in his ear and pushed him and dropped a pretty leaf in his hands to show what a good friend it was!
     “Oh, wind,” said John after they had gone along together for quite a way. “Can you help me find a little red house with no doors and a star inside?”
     The wind went singing ahead of the little boy until it came to an orchard. There it climbed up into an apple tree and shook the branches. At John’s feet fell a rosy apple.
     John picked up the apple. It was as much as two hands could hold. It was as red as the sun had been able to paint it and the thick brown stem stood up as straight as a chimney. It was a little red house. It had no doors.
     “I wonder,” thought John. He took his pocket knife out and cut through the center. Oh, how wonderful! There inside the apple, lay a star holding brown seeds.
     John called to the wind, “Thank you,” and the wind whistled back, “You’re welcome.”
     Then John ran home to his mother and gave her the apple and told her about his journey.

(The apple must be cut horizontally, halfway between flower and stem ends. A larger apple works better.) 
 

Apple Poem

to supplement The Little Red House
(from Dr. Jean’s website)

Take an apple round and red.
Don’t slice down, slice through instead.
Look inside it and you’ll see
A special star for you and me!

Taste test red, yellow and green apples. Then make a graph of the class favorite.

Make apple patterns (AB or ABC) by gluing apples to a 4"X18" inch strip of construction paper. These could be made into a headband.

Make an Apple Quilt by centering apple cutouts on a background of squares in an AB pattern.

Put an apple on one side of a balance scale and other objects (toy cars, glue bottles, scissors, etc.) on the other side to determine how many of each object it takes to balance the apple.

Which is heavier--an apple or a toy car? Which is lighter--an apple or a wood block?
These activities are from the book, Science Through the Alphabet, by Sue Kerr.
You can e-mail the author direct at kerrific@charter.net if you want to purchase her books.

Use paper apples and an apple basket or tree workmat as a basis for patterning, counting, estimation, and story problems.
 

Estimate the number of apple seeds in one or two apples. Count the seeds and compare which has more, less, the same.
 

Sort apples by discussing likenesses/differences between apples.
 

Graph favorite apple product---apple, applesauce, apple pie, cider.
 

Subtract real apples or apple cutouts using a counting rhyme (above), apple cutouts, tree workmat.
 

Practice counting, using Grandpa’s Farm rhyme (listed above).
 

Cut apples into pieces to introduce fractions. Use the book, Apple Fractions by Jerry Pallotta, as an introduction to this activity.
 

Use yarn strips cut by students to estimate the circumference of an apple. Tape strings on a chart labeled Too Long, Too short, Just Right.
 

Using apples brought from home, compare ways they are alike and different.

Similarities: All apples grow on trees, have seeds inside, can be eaten, have a relatively smooth skin, and have a hidden star inside if cut properly.
     

Differences: They are not all the same size, shape or color, do not taste the same and do not have the same texture.
 

Use apple shapes to compare red, yellow and green apples (similar to a Venn diagram).

Keep a record (photos or drawings) of what an apple tree looks like during each season of the year. Reinforce this with the book, The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons.

Predict if an apple will float or sink. Check this out with a real apple. Will other fruits and/or vegetables float or sink?

We observed the color, size and taste of three different colors of apples to complete the paper seent to the right.

Sequence apple growth from seed to apple. This website has a "From Seed to Apple" flap book to make. The site is no longer available but it can be found at this link at archive.org.

Oxidation experiment: Cut an apple in half. Expose both halves to the air. Pour lemon juice on one half. Watch for changes. Which apple turns brown? Why? What does the lemon juice do? Draw what happens in a science journal.

Apple balance scale activity (described above in math).
 

Make apple patterns (described above in math).

Assemble an apple puzzle (created by cutting apart a large apple)
 

Make an apple necklace by cutting out apples, hole punching the top and stringing on yarn.

Match colored apples to color words.

Match lower case letter worms to capital letter apples.

Put numbers on baskets and students count paper apples and put the correct amount in each basket.

Glue alphabits cereal on an Aa written on an apple cutout.

Discuss how apples are transported from the orchard to the supermarket.
 

Take a field trip to an apple orchard and/or supermarket.

Read some Johnny Appleseed books, discussing folk legends or using map skills to plot his travels. Make a Johnny Appleseed puppet. The pattern can be found here: http://home.att.net/%7Eelteach/appleseed.html

Where are apples located on the food pyramid?
 

Discuss importance of fruit in daily diet. Name some other fruits.

Make Johnny Appleseed hats, a "pot" students wear on their heads. Cut 5 inch strips of black paper to fit the heads. Glue on an Ellison punched apple. The handle is brown paper 3"x9" with one rounded end. Fold the straight end back and glue to the black cylinder. I use an apple hole punch to make a tiny apple a the curved end.

Fingerpaint two apples and staple bottom edges when dry. 

Stuff with newspaper or filling.

Staple closed and add a stem and leaves. This apple was not fingerpainted--just stapled and stuffed.

Large Apple Cores

Make an apple core by tearing the edges of a white rectangle for the core. Then cut the top and bottom of the apple from red and tear the edges to look like bites. Add a stem and leaf.

Thumbprint Apple Art and Poem

Make an apple tree and have the children use thumbprints to make apples. Attach this poem:

    These are special apples
    Hanging on this tree.
    I made them with my fingerprints.
    They are a part of me!

Handprint Apple Tree

Apples are made by coloring an apple, then adding tissue paper squares to the top. Finally, brush a glue/ water solution over all. Trace a green handprint for the leaf/stem and add this poem:

This little apple that you see here
Was made just for you my kindergarten year.
You'll never find another like it in all this great land
Because for the stem I used my own little hand.

Applesauce
4 apples
1 cup water
1/2 cup brown sugar
¼ tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp.nutmeg
Peel and quarter the apples. Heat the apples and water to boiling, then reduce heat. Simmer uncovered until apples are tender (5-10 minutes). Stir in the other ingredients. Make sure the apples are broken or mashed into smaller pieces. Heat to boiling. Boil and stir one minute. Let cool.

Apple Smiles

Spread peanut butter between two apple slices and put mini marshmallow between for teeth.

Apple Pizza

1 package refrigerated biscuits

Separate the package into 10 biscuits and then cut each biscuit in half. Each child is given half a biscuit on a piece of wax paper.

Spread 1 tsp. margarine on each biscuit.
Add thinly sliced apples, 2 to 3 slices for each child.
Sprinkle on a dash of salt.
Sprinkle on sugar and cinnamon. Place on greased cookie sheet.

Bake in 400 degree oven for 7 to 9 minutes. ENJOY!

Apple Cupcake

Family Fun Magazine

1 cupcake

red frosting

1 mini pretzel stick

melted chocolate

1 green gumdrop leaf

1 gummy worm

Unwrap the cupcake and ice it with red frosting.

Dip the pretzel stick in melted chocolate, allow it to harden, then insert it for the stem.

Add the gumdrop leaf. Cut a small "bite" out of the cupcake and insert the worm (or just half the worm.

• Dip apples in caramel dip.
• Drink apple cider.
• Make apple and peanut butter sandwiches:
  Cut 2 slices of apple from the center of an apple. Spread peanut butter on one slice. Put the other apple slice on top to make a "sandwich".

Apple Fun Day
Divide children into 4 groups that rotate to the following activities:
1. Apple Bingo Game
2. Rotten Apple Game
3. Apple Necklace, Face Painting, Apple Puzzle, Size Seriated Apples
(Children cut out an apple and put it on yarn for a necklace. While they are doing this, the parent helper calls one child at a time to draw an apple on one cheek. using washable markers or face paint. If students finish the necklace, they can put together an apple puzzle or arrange various size apples smallest to largest.
4. Snack-Johnny Appleseed Sandwich or Apple Smile.

Apple Express
Centers are set up in different classes and students move from room to room:
1. Estimate, weigh and measure the circumference of apples.
2. Create an apple man and sing the song, “Do you know the apple man?”
3. Make place mats using an apple printing process.

Apples Theme @A to Z Teacher Stuff

Bio of Johnny Applessed

The Mailbox, Kindergarten, Aug 1995
The Mailbox, Kindergarten, Aug 1989
Once Upon a Theme, Fall Semester, The Education Center, pp. 64-73
Letter of the Week, The Education Center, pp. 4-10
Copycat Magazine, Sept/Oct 1997
September Monthly Book, Kindergarten, The Education Center (TEC202)
September Monthly Reproducibles, Kindergarten, The Education Center (TEC955)