A is For Apple Homeschool Preschool Unit

Our new unit is A is for Apple, and I’m so excited! This week, we will be going apple picking, and have lots of fun sensory apple activities planned!

It’s definitely getting a lot cooler, here in Michigan these days, and I can smell fall in the air. I thought apples would be the perfect unit to begin all the fall seasonal activities!

**This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link. Please see my full disclosure for further information.

Letter of the Week

Starting this week, we will be focusing on one letter every week. This week, we will be starting our first letter: A!

I have a simple worksheet activity planned, and also a writing worksheet which is completely optional. If you feel like your child is not ready or interested in writing yet, I would suggest you not do the writing worksheet.

A is For Apple Lesson Plan

As always, if you want to go straight into the lesson plan, here it is! But if you want a little more info, keep on scrolling!

A is For Apple Activities

Day 1: Apple Picking!

Apple picking! Since we want to keep practicing social distancing, we figured we should go on a weekday to avoid crowds. My husband is taking a day off from work so we can all go together!

Definitely looking forward to some apple cider and donuts!

Day 2: Bobbing for Apples and Apple Tasting

Today, we will be tasting the apples we picked yesterday! But not without bobbing for apples first!

Last year, I think we only picked Fuji, but this year I plan on picking a variety of different apples and hopefully getting some Jonathon and Granny Smith’s.

Bobbing for Apples

To make bobbing for apples a bit easier for my preschooler, I think I will do slices of apples rather than whole apples.

And then after bobbing for apples, I plan on putting them back in and then using tongs to get the apples from the water. Practice those fine motor skills!

Review Last Week’s Five Senses

As we taste the apples, I will also ask some review questions from our unit last week. What do the apples look like? How do they feel? What flavors do you taste? Etc.

Letter A is For Apple

We will also be starting our letter A today!

I will be printing two the activity worksheet. With the first, I plan on getting my son to fill in the circles with dot markers or circle stickers. With the second, I plan on getting my son to glue on pom poms onto the circles. This way he can practice “writing” the letter A two different ways.

Here’s a pic of the worksheet, the PDF will be available in the lesson plan download.

Day 3: Apple Painting/Stamping & Apple Sorting

Did you know that if you cut an apple horizontally, the center is a STAR? So cool!

I will be cutting a couple apples horizontally, and use paint to stamp apples onto paper. I plan on using red, yellow, and green paint to go along with the colors of apples, but feel free to use whatever colors you like!

Apple Color Sorting Activity

I’ve created another printable for you all! This will be included in the lesson plan for FREE!

Just print out the download and cut out the apples, and get your child to sort it by color!

Day 4: Apple Plate Shakers & Letter A Practice

I saw this cute apple plate shaker craft on Pinterest and had to try it out for myself!

Materials:

• 2 paper plates per apple shaker
• red and green paint
• stapler or hot glue gun
• green paper (for the leaf)
• brown paper (for stem)
• glue
• rice or beans to fill the shaker (get these from the dollar store!)

Step 1

Paint the outside/bottom of the plates. And let it dry. (During this time, I will probably do the writing worksheet.)

Step 2

Cut out a leaf and a stem using the green and brown construction paper.

Step 3

Glue the leaf and the stem onto one of the plates.

Step 4

Put some rice/beans onto one of the plates.

Step 5

Place the other plate on top and then staple/hot glue the plates together.

And you’re done!

Writing Worksheet

Just a reminder that you should feel like your child is ready to write before you do the writing practice worksheet.

For the letter A writing practice worksheet, I plan on placing the sheet in a plastic folder. This way, we can reuse the worksheet again in the future. And also, my son loves writing with a dry-erase marker, so he’s much more eager to write!

Day 5: Apple Sorting Capital and Lower-Case A

This is very similar to the apple color sorting activity, but it will be apples with capital A and apples with lower-case A and there will be two baskets with capital A and lower-case A.

Writing on the Window

We will practice writing letter A on the window using dry-erase markers!

You could also make it into a game by writing several capital A’s and several lower-case A’s and getting your child to erase or circle whatever letter you call out.

A is for Apple Books

Apple Cider Making Days by Ann Purmell

A family gathers together to help their grandfather on his apple farm. It’s informative and relatable, and a great book to read before going to an apple orchard.

An Apple Pie for Dinner retold by Susan VanHecke

This is one of those books my son wanted to read over and over again. Granny Smith wants to make an apple pie for dinner, but doesn’t have any apples. She embarks on a journey to find apples, and along the way meets many new friends. A really sweet book about kindness about sharing what you have and helping each other.

Dappled Apples by Jan Carr

The rhyming gives this book a nice flow when reading. It goes through all the fun activities in the fall. There are a couple pages about Halloween that could potentially be a little scary for littles–so just keep an eye out for that!

Apples and Pumpkins by Anne Rockwell

This books talks about the fun activities you can do in the fall. From apple picking at the orchard to pumpkin picking at the pumpkin patch to carving pumpkins and trick-or-treating. It’s a book that kiddos will easily relate to.

Apple Pie ABC by Alison Murray

This is a great book for kiddos that are learning their letters. It goes through the entire alphabet while telling a story of a little dog that wants a taste of apple pie.

Apples by Jacqueline Farmer

This book is very informative and has beautiful illustrations. Since there is a lot of text on each page, it would be a great book for older Elementary students to learn about the history of apples.

The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall

A family grows apple trees, and the girls get to see the trees during each season. And finally get to pick the apples and make apple pie from them.

Apples (New and Updated) by Gail Gibbons

Very informative and thorough, I learned so many things about apples! My son really liked learning all the names of different kinds of apples.

Bad Apple A Tale of Friendship by Edward Hemingway

A really cute book about a friendship between an apple and a worm 🙂

Applesauce Day by Lisa J. Amstutz

Bible Verse

This week’s Bible verse is the same as last week’s: Proverbs 20:12.

How has Bible memory verses been going for you and your kids? I honestly have been forgetting to practice it with my son during the day, but we have been saying it every evening before he goes to bed. It’s really been helpful to have the print-out (included in the lesson plan download) up on the wall right near my son’s bed.

I’m honestly impressed that my son has both the Bible verses memorized now! And it’s been really great for me to keep practicing these verses as well.

A is For Apple Lesson Plan

Input your info below and the lesson plan and all the printables will be sent directly to your inbox!

Follow Along!

As always, I will be posting our daily activities over on Instagram. I would love to have you join me there! @discoveringmommyhood

Recommended For You:

Please Share With Your Friends!