Take a bite out of learning with these sweet lesson ideas. This week, your child will develop life and fine motor skills while learning math, science, phonics, art, and music. We also suggest a trip to an apple orchard if possible to bring the lessons to life. If you are able to go, spend time afterward with your child cleaning, counting, and sorting the apples you pick. 🍏 🍎 Want to track your progress? Download this printable worksheet to keep track of skills learned, books read, and how you’re progressing.
Note: Occasionally we include project upgrades (for kids ready for more) and modifications (which can be useful for including younger siblings). We’ll mark those with the plus (+) or minus (-) symbols.
What you need:
Books (find at your local library or order below on Amazon):
- How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman (or read it on OpenLibrary here or listen to a read aloud here)
- How do Apples Grow? by Jill McDonald (or read it here on OpenLibrary or listen to a read aloud here)
- Apple Countdown by Joan Holub (or listen to a read aloud here)
Supplies (use what you have, but here are links to shop if you need anything):
- 6-8 apples (either from the orchard or the grocery store)
- ingredients for this no-bake recipe + additional apples for lessons
- laminated world map poster (we highly recommend having a laminated map for lessons, but if you’re in a pinch, you can print this one for the lesson)
- paper + access to a printer (don’t have one? we like this model)
- scissors
- laminator + laminator sheets (optional, but recommended for repeating lessons)
- tape
- washable paints
- paper plate
- glitter glue
- dice
- muffin tin
- brown paper bag
- large piece of kraft paper or cardstock
- baking sheet
- apple slicer or small knife
- red paper plate (or you can use a white one linked above and color it red, if desired)
- construction paper
- hole puncher
- black permanent marker
- red ribbon or yarn
- clear drying, non-toxic glue (we like this glue + glue stick set)
- two toilet paper rolls (or one paper towel roll cut in half)
- brown and green cardstock
- red and green pom poms (kids love pom poms, but rolled up balls of construction paper can work, too)
- tweezers and/or tongs
- playdough
What to do:
We recommend doing the below lessons in this order to build on each skill your child will develop, but don’t feel that you *need* to do them in this order. Do what works for you and your child. If they love an activity, feel free to repeat! Not a winner? Skip and try the next thing. Have fun!
Letter of the week: A
New to the letter of the week? Start here! Next, print your letter A coloring sheet and phonics guide. Let your child color the coloring sheet as you work through the next part of the lesson.
The Letter A makes three different sounds: /ā/ as in ape, /ă/ as in apple, and /ä/ as in car, as you can see on the first page of the letter guide. Reinforce the sounds with our Letter of the Week Song.
Remember, the guide isn’t a worksheet! The first page is for you, the grown-up. Use it to introduce the letter name, the sounds it makes, and to demonstrate how to draw each letter. Display the Letter Guide in your school area along with the completed coloring sheet to reinforce the lesson throughout the week.
Next, use the second sheet to create a page for your child’s phonics book. Review the book a few times each week until your child has mastered these phonics.
Lesson 1:
Start by reading one of our favorite books of all time, How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World. When reading throughout the week, point out the word “apple” and talk about the letter A. Label the upper case A and the lower case a. Keep practicing this phonics lesson with your child throughout the week.
Activity 1: Let’s take a trip around the world along with our story. You may want to re-read the story as you do this activity. Begin by printing these illustrated ingredient cards. (Laminating is not required, but helpful for repeating the lesson later.) Search a world map for all the locations in the story and place the corresponding pictures on the map. This lesson will not only be a wonderful opportunity to learn geography and map reading, but also focus on the sequence of events.
Activity 2: Apple stamping
Lesson 2:
Read How Do Apples Grow?, reinforcing the phonics lesson from lesson 1.
Activity 1: Let’s dissect an apple to get a better look at it’s parts! Use an apple slicer (or you can use a knife) to help your child separate the core, seeds, stem, peel, and flesh of the apple. You can use this printable sheet to help identify the parts. Encourage your child to examine each part (optionally, you can use a magnifying glass for a better look!) and talk about what purpose that part serves for the apple.
Activity 2: Alphabet lacing craft
(-) For younger children, punch fewer holes and use a piece of tape to stiffen the end of the yarn for easier threading.
Activity 3: Keep practicing those fine motor skills with this simple glue dot craft that helps your child learn how to glue like a pro. Use glitter glue or some other glue with a color and encourage your child to try to add just a dot of glue to each circle.
Lesson 3:
Has your child had a favorite book so far this week? Re-read it and point out the letter A sounds.
Activity 1: Let’s make a cute phonics craft! Start by having your child paint two large popsicle sticks and one small popsicle stick red. When they dry, have your child create the letter A with the sticks and glue them into place. Next, turn it into an apple by adding a piece of white cardstock in the “hole” of the A and brown and green construction paper to create a stem and leaf. Finally, let your child draw seeds on the white part of the apple. It should look like this:
Activity 2: Sing the Apples and Bananas song (see how fast you can sing it without messing up!)
Lesson 4:
Show your child the painting Woman Peeling Apples by Archibald John Motley. Ask your child about what they see. Play an I Spy game to find the apples and talk about what color they are. Talk about the woman in the picture and what the artist wants to tell us about her. What is the expression on her face? What is the woman doing? What colors and shapes can your child find? What do you think she is feeling or thinking about?
***Click here for more tips on how to talk to kids about art.
Activity 1: Apple Sorting Activity Print and cut each basket and apple in the printable. Using green construction paper to make “tree leaves” and brown paper lunch bags to make a “tree trunk”, form an apple tree that can be attached to the wall. Next, add the apples to your tree using masking tape so that it can be easily removed without tearing the green construction paper.
Use the pieces to play a sorting game. Pretend to “harvest” and sort the apples in one of two ways:
1) Sort the letter A into two baskets, one for the capital letter A and the other for lowercase a.
2) Practice the letter A sounds by sorting the apples by the long or short sound it makes.
(-) To keep a younger sibling busy, fill a pot, large plastic bin, or shoe box with pom poms and give them a paper towel tube to play while your older child practices sorting.
Activity 2: Let’s work on some numeral recognition with a dice game! Start by printing these apple numbers and cutting out each circle. (You will need one sheet per child playing.) Set up six cups per child and label them with numbers 1-6 in front of each cup. Give each child 6 red pom poms.
Next, take turns rolling a 6-sided die. The child who rolls can put a pom pom in the cup that corresponds to the number rolled. Then have each player take turns rolling. If they roll a number that already has a pom pom, they can either add another pom pom or it can be the next player’s turn. The game ends when one player gets at least one pom pom in each cup.
(+) To upgrade the game, use up to 12 cups per player and 2 dice that the child can add together to try to fill all the cups.
Lesson 5:
Read Apple Countdown. Demonstrate the counting as needed, but let your child do as much of the counting as they’re able to.
Activity 1: Let’s practice numbers 1-10. Begin by printing and laminating these mats. Use them to practice number recognition, counting with pom poms, forming numbers with playdough, and tracing numbers with a dry erase marker or a water dipped paint brush.
Activity 2: No-Bake Apple Snack Recipe
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