by Kim

Who doesn’t love an apple craft? We have a local apple festival here and the kids go nuts for anything apple at this time. This one is made from stuff around your house and apples.

First gather your supplies. You will need one apple, red paint, chenille stem, cereal loops, marker, piece of cardboard (we used a pizza box lid), and scissors.

Take your marker and draw an apple outline on your cardboard.

Cut your apple in half and squeeze out some red paint. I removed the seeds and the stem.

Let your child start stamping away. This was so much fun!

Once your child has filled in the apple by stamping, you can let it dry. Don’t worry about paint outside of the lines. They are little and you are going to cut out the apple any way.

While the apple is drying, instruct your child to thread the cereal loops onto the chenille stem. I let my daughter do it however, but this is a great time to introduce or practice patterns.

When they are done filling up the stem with cereal, thread one last one on the end. Bend the tip around and twist to secure the last loop. This will stop the others from coming off and makes a great “head”. Can you tell it is a worm yet?

I took a pencil and poked a hole into the cardboard, but you can use whatever you have around.

Push the open end of the stem into the hole. I wrapped the end around itself and the twisted the end into the loop to secure it.

Now you have an apple with a “real” worm coming out of it. My daughter really loved the craft. She has named her worm and insisted he get buckled into the van with the rest of us. She was refusing to pose for the shot. I am sure you have had those moments, too.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Kim is a contributing writer for No Time For Flash Cards, a mom to a toddler, a preschooler, and a foster parent, too. She juggles her day by trying out fun activities and crafts with the kids. After all, she is just a big kid herself. See what she has been up to over at Mom Tried It.

You know when you don’t have enough of one kind of cereal and you have to mix two to get a full bowl? Yesterday I had to finish off 2 and while looking at the empty boxes I knew I wanted to make them into something fun for fall.  Our apple trees are heavy with fruit and I can’t wait to do some apple printing but until then these cereal box apples are proudly displayed on our mantle.

1. Gather your materials. You will need a cereal box , some craft paper, tape, red paint ( crayon or marker), a popsicle stick, green felt, pinking shears,  a gold or brown pipe cleaner, scissors, a dish for paint and a large brush.
2. Start by taping the box closed and wrapping it in the craft paper just like you would when wrapping a gift.
3. Time to paint!
4. My daughter wanted to do it too but wouldn’t hold the brush, she was all about the marker though and just wanted to stand so we improvised using a chair.
5. While my son painted I wrapped the end of the pipe cleaner around the popsicle stick.
6. When he was done he did the rest.  I did my daughter’s stem.
7. Let dry.
8. While waiting they played and I cut the leaves out of felt with pinking shears.
9. When dry make a hole in the felt, make a hole in the box with scissors. Adults only , you need sharp scissors.
10. Stick the stem through the hole in the leaves and into the box.
11. All done!

Books About Apples

Apple Picking Time by Michele Benoit Slawson  was not what I was expecting , it was so much more. I was expecting a basic book about picking apples at an orchard.  This book is anything but basic, it’s dreamy and while reading it I almost felt as thought I was back in time when a whole community would come to a stand still for something like apple picking.  The protagonist is Anna a little girl who works hard in the orchard along side her parents and grandparents . She isn’t as fast as her parents, but with hard work and the support of her family she reaches her goal and fills a bin! I loved this book,  I would suggest it for preschoolers and up.

Apples, Apples, Apples by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace will not be returned to the library on time. We got it out today and my son has had me read it to him 3 times, and his dad read it twice. Clearly it gets the 3 year old seal of approval. It also gets mine. The story is more than just a story about a afmily going apple picking at an orchard. It explains all sorts of apple facts but what I really love is that it also explains that there are different kinds of apples and each are used for different things. Since each member of the family is using their apples for different purposes that fact is driven home . Great book for preschoolers going on a apple picking field trip , making applesauce or apple prints ( psst check back for a craft in a few days!).

Apple Farmer Annie by  Monica Wellington is another  favorite in our house. My son loves this author and I like how simple but informative this book is. Your little reader will learn about the basics of what happens at an apple orchard , but you can take it further if you want. On many of the pages there are chances to learn more, like the page about sorting and classifying, where there are apples ready to count 1-10, and sorted by colors. I love the last page that says that Annie is so happy to have her own apple farm. I loved that message and think it’s a lot more powerful than some may think, women on farms in most books are “farmer’s wives” and I love that there is no one but Annie doing her own thing.

This is an extremely simple activity that helps children address two important areas of development: fine motor and sensory.

You will need a plain sheet of paper, a piece of card stock, a hole puncher, and a green crayon or marker.

Punch as many holes as you can in the card stock.

Place the card stock on top of your white sheet of paper.

Take red finger paint and guide your child to work it into each hole. Help your child isolate their pointed finger as they do this. The slippery/slimy texture of the paint is one that often poses a problem for kids with sensory issues, so don’t be surprised if they resist. Try to finish the activity, though. While we were doing the activity, Charlie, who often strongly resists finger painting, took such an interest in those little holes that he seemed to forget that he was touching his nemesis: finger paint.

Lift the card stock and wait for all your circles to dry.

Once the paint is dry, allow your child to draw green stems with the crayon/marker. Let them do it alone if they can, guide them if they are unable.

I you do have to help your child draw the stems, be sure to guide them in the most natural way possible. Show them a downward stroke even though it might feel strange depending on where you are standing while you help them.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Katy is a mom of one who loves art, mystery novels, and anything involving peanut butter–she blogs about raising her little miracle at Bird on the Street.

For this activity you will need a wooden embroidery hood, cheese cloth, red paint, yarn or string, green paper or foam, and some sugar.

Mix one part sugar to two parts water in a bowl. Dip the cheesecloth into the sugar water and then wrap it around the embroidery hoop.

Wait for it to dry completely–it should be somewhat stiff.

Have your child dab paint all over the cloth.

Run water over the cloth to spread the color around.

Again, wait for the cloth to dry.

Cut a stem and leaves from the green paper/foam and add them to the embroidery hoop. I used green for my stem, which makes it look a bit like a tomato–brown might have been more realistic.

Tie a string around metal part of the hoop that sticks out and then hang it in front of a window. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I admit that one of the things I miss most about teaching are the treats. I know not exactly the response you expect from someone as excited about education as I really honestly am… but it’s the truth. It seemed between my two classes someone was always celebrating something. Well I think we should celebrate teachers at the start of the year, get them as excited about a fresh start as we are.  My son went back to preschool this week and we made these cookies for his teachers.

I got the recipe from here

1. Start by making your dough – the above recipe was good but the cookies came out crumbly- I added an extra 5 minutes baking and it made it better. My son loves helping me bake and it’s a fun thing “special event” you can do at home if a younger sibling is napping. I try to get all the ingredients ready so he can just pop them in.
2. While the cookies are baking gather your materials for the apple bags. You will need some paper bags, zip locs,  red crayon or marker, scissors, and green pipe cleaners.
3. Color your bags red.
4. When the cookies are cool pop them in the zip loc.
5. Pop them in the paper bag and cinch the top with a green pipe cleaner bent into a leaf.
6. Trim the top and it’s ready to be given to your teachers!