Apple Learning Activities & Book Suggestions – Celebrate Johnny Appleseed’s birthday (September 26) or Apple Month (September) with these creative apple ideas and books.
Tell the children that there is a shape inside an apple. Ask them to predict the shape and write down their predictions. Cut an apple horizontally across the middle and show the star shape inside that holds the seeds. Explain how an apple tree grows from seeds.
Have the children predict whether the same amount of seeds will be in each apple. Cut apart several more and count the seeds.
Cut an apple in half and do a lesson on half and whole.
Make apple prints by cutting some apples in half vertically and horizontally, dipping them in paint and pressing them onto paper.
Ask children to predict whether an apple will sink or float in a bowl of water (it should float). Try apples of different varieties and have students predict if they think each one will sink or float.
Make applesauce for snack. Ingredients: 1/4 cup water, 4 apples peeled and cut in eighths, 1/4 cup sugar, a dash of cinnamon. Put water and 4 or 5 pieces of apple into a blender. Cover and process at blend until smooth. Increase speed and add remaining apple pieces a few at a time. Add sugar and cinnamon to taste.
Book Suggestions:
Johnny Appleseed Goes a Planting
Johnny Appleseed by Jodi Shepherd
The Story of Johnny Appleseed by Aliki
Johnny Appleseed by Patricia Brennan Demuth and Michael Montgomery
Johnny Appleseed (Ready to Reads) by Jane Kurtz
The Seasons of Arnold’s Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons
I Am an Apple by Jean Marzollo
Ten Apples Up on Top by Theo LeSieg
Little Mouse and the Big Red Apple by A.H. Benjamin
How Do Apples Grow? by Betsy C. Maestro
