An apple-themed project for preschoolers

An apple-themed project for preschoolers

Fall is apple-picking season and exploring juicy apples with preschoolers is always fun. Here, I would like to suggest a simple project for older children who have mastered basic abilities and are now able to execute tasks requiring a certain level of precision.

With this project, they will work on their ability to cut rectangles and circles. This may be challenging for some children. You can easily adapt it by lowering your expectations and, for example, asking them to cut one or two circles and simply cutting the other circles for them prior to presenting the activity.

You will need:

• Brown cardboard
  
• Red construction paper
  
• Green poster paint
  
• A large piece of white paper per child
  
• Paintbrushes
  
• Glue
  
• Scissors
  
• A black marker

Steps:

1. Prior to presenting this activity, trace a rectangle on brown cardboard for each child. Draw five or six circles on the red construction paper for each child too.
   
   
   
   
2. Give each child a rectangle. Ask them to cut it out and glue it on their piece of white paper to represent a tree trunk.
   
3. Apply green poster paint to children's hands and have them press them on their white piece of paper, above the rectangle to represent leaves. Let dry.
   
4. In the meantime, cut out the apples. Adapt this step per children's abilities.
   
5. Once the paint is dry, glue the apples in the tree. Using the black marker, draw a small vertical line at the top of each apple. These lines will represent peduncles.
   
   

Children will be proud of their personalized apple trees!

Have fun with this project!

Maude Dubé, Specialized educator