Apple Themed Activities for Toddlers
By LAURIN BRAINARD Updated July 7, 2024
I am so excited to share this amazing journey of toddler learning that I have embarked on with my son! This past week we started toddler activities in our home. My son is 2 1/2 and is the perfect age for working on pre-academic skills that will help prepare him for kindergarten and beyond. For our first unit of study, I created a set of Apple Themed Toddler Activities. Enjoy a peek into our week through a sampling of our activities together!
In this post, I’m sharing 5 of my favorite types of apple toddler activities:
- Apple Art Activities
- Apple Sensory Play
- Apple Math Activity
- Apple Fine Motor Activities
- Apple Snacks
- Apple Theme Toddler Lesson Plans
Apple Toddler Lesson Plans
Each of the 5 lessons in this unit includes the following activities:
- literacy/language
- math or science activity
- fine motor activity
- gross motor activity
- art activity
- recipe/snack
Interested in downloading these apple activities that you can print and use right away? Click on the image or button below to check them out in my TpT shop!
Kick off Apple Week with a Field Trip to the Grocery Store or Apple Farm
I really wanted the first day of learning to fill my little guy with an excitement for learning, so we took a field trip to buy apples from the grocery store. He was so excited to get to help pick out the apples and put them in our shopping bags. We talked about the names, colors, shape, smell, and sizes of each apple as we compared the fruit in the store. I made sure to buy red, green, and yellow apples to use in our lessons.
How to Set Up Your Learning Folder
After our shopping trip, we dove right into learning about apples! To begin the first lesson, we colored the cover page for our unit notebook. We read the I CAN statement and discussed what we would be learning about. To prepare the notebook, I stapled a gallon size ziplock bag and copy paper inside a folded piece of construction paper. As we finish activities, we will be gluing the completed work on the pieces of copy paper. Any reusable materials will be kept inside the ziplock bag for use again at a later date.
Apple Art Activities
This unit is FILLED with art activities! Each day we work on the letter A and a. We colored a picture to reinforce this learning and associate a picture with the letter of the week.
This apple seed craft was a huge hit! My son loved getting to glue the apple seeds onto the apple. It was a great way to integrate science and art as well.
My son had SO MUCH FUN with this apple plate craft! It was one of his first time using scissors, so I could definitely see a need for extra practice in this area. We cut and tore paper, then he used his gluestick to independently glue the paper onto the apple. When he finished, he shouted “the apple is done!!” and was so excited to show his apple to everyone he saw over the next few days.
Apple Sensory Play
Sensory play and exploration is so important for the toddler age. Allowing your child to use his or her imagination during a hands-on activity will engage the child and help him reach his full potential. I created this Apple Pie Sensory Bin to work on “big A” and “little a” through sensory play. My son would not stop playing for a full hour!
We also enjoyed washing apples in this apple water sensory play station. I gave my son 3 mixing bowls filled with water and apples. He used a ladle to move the apples between the bowls. So much fun in such a simple activity!
Looking for more information on how to set up a sensory bin? You won’t want to miss this blog post: How to Set Up a Sensory Bin
Apple Math Activities
To work on number skills, we added pom pom “apples” to these apple trees. Most children at this age will need support to count the apples, but can add the apples to the trees independently.
Apple Fine Motor Activities
To work on fine motor skills, we rolled playdoh and placed the playdoh on the letters A and a in a sheet protector. First, teach your child to roll the playdoh into “snakes” and then place on the letters. This playdoh mat also makes for a great busy bag activity that can be pulled out at anytime for your toddler!
If you aren’t familiar with what fine motor skills are, then you can read more about this here: What are Fine Motor Skills?
This apple lacing fine motor activity was a struggle at first for my little guy. He understood that he needed to pull the lace through the hole, but he kept missing the hole and pulling the lacing behind his head. I used hand over hand movements and this really helped him understand the concept of lacing. This is definitley a skill we will be practicing over the next several months.
Learn even more about what fine motor skills are in this post: What are Fine Motor Skills?
Apple Snacks/Recipes
The most exciting part of our day was eating our fun apple snacks! We enjoyed apple “donuts” and apple sandwiches, apple slices, apples dipped in caramel, and homemade applesauce. All of our snacks were delicious!
Apple Theme Toddler Lesson Plans
I hope you are feeling inspired to start working with your little ones! All printables and full lesson plans are available in my Apple Unit on Etsy or in my Teachers Pay Teachers Shop!
If you are looking for even more toddler learning fun for you and your little ones, then check out my Complete Toddler School Curriculum Bundle for all the plans and printables you need for an entire year of learning!
Here are some of our other favorite toddler themes:
You can also check out all the themes in this post: 40 Toddler Activity Themes
Have a listen to our Podcast, Teach Your Littles At Home, to hear all about how we began toddler school in our own home through this apple theme!
If you want to learn more about how to get started planning activities for your little ones, download my FREE guide for everything you need to know about the 6 skill areas we incorporate into toddler school:
This post may contain Amazon affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase through one of my affiliate links, which helps to support The Primary Brain blog. As always, I only recommend products that I love and all ideas shared are my own.
Written on September 7th, 2018 by Laurin Brainard