Book Selections and Instructions/Links
The reading selections are most suited for the preschool to 4th grade audience, but older children will enjoy reading to the littlies and doing the crafts. My oldest (13) loved making applesauce.
Story Time:
Apple Farmer Annie (Monica Wellington). Annie harvests her apples to make cider and applesauce, and takes her apples to market to sell. Cute illustrations. Recipes for applesauce, muffins and cake! (This was Claire’s favorite “apple book”. She wanted to be a farmer after reading it!)
Applesauce Season (Eden Ross Lipson). If you are a slow foods family, or just appreciate the importance of food in family tradition and culture, this is a lovely book to read this fall! A boy and his family live in the city, but they shop for apples at the farmers market. The book details how they lovingly choose their apples, prepare them, cook them, eat them. Beautiful illustrations.
Nature and Seasons:
The Seasons of Arnolds Apple Tree (Gail Gibbons). The story of a boy and his apple tree through the seasons. Illustrations show how the tree transforms throughout the year, and what the boy does around the tree during different seasons. Great fun.
The Apple Pie Tree (Zoe Hall). Follows two sisters and their backyard apple tree through seasonal changes. Highlights wildlife living in the tree.
Science
How Do Apples Grow? (Betsy Maestro). Presents the science of how apples grow from seed to harvest. Very engaging but easy to comprehend even for the younger kids.
Math
Ten Red Apples (Pat Hutchins ). Rhyming and count down story; most suited for preschoolers.
Craft/Activity Ideas
Art: Using the book Arnold’s Apple Tree as a guide, draw and paint/color a four-part series on an apple tree throughout the seasons.
Cooking:
- Make applesauce. Recipe for basic applesauce here.
- Bake APPLESAUCE BREAD
Crafts:
- Apple votives: votive candles set into an apple. Instructions here. These instructions show the apple votives floating in water, but you can also just set the votives on the table as in the photo below. Just be sure to flatten the bottom of the apples a bit so they don’t topple over. A fun fall table idea!
- Apple prints. Little ones will love dipping apple halves into paint and making prints on paper. Instructions here. Your older kids (and moms too!) will enjoy this idea from Martha Stewart for making apple prints on fabric bags.
Nature Exploration:
- Go apple picking! Check your local orchards.