10 Engaging Apple Activities for Kindergarten

I love a good theme in kindergarten – it keeps the kids (and teacher!) excited and engaged in learning.  An apple thematic unit is a great way to kick off September!  Today I’m sharing some fun and engaging apple activities for kindergarten that you can use in your classroom this fall.

Apple Activities for Kindergarten

If you’ve ever tried to do a quick search for kindergarten apple activities, you know that it’s anything but quick!  There are so many apple-themed learning activities that it can be hard to make a decision.  That’s why I have narrowed it down to my ten favorites! The reason that I chose the following activities is that they can go hand-in-hand with the literacy, math, science, and fine motor skills that you will be practicing in the fall.

Apple Life Cycle Activities

Kindergartners will learn about many different cycles, like animal life cycles and the water cycle. This is why I love to start an apple unit by talking about the life cycle of an apple. It gives students a good foundation for understanding cycles. 

You can use a pocket chart to help you illustrate the different parts of the growth cycle, then have students complete their own versions with a cut-and-paste activity!

Parts of an Apple

After learning that apples contain seeds that can grow trees, it’s fun for students to learn about the other parts of an apple! You can cut into an apple to show the different parts of an apple, then create an anchor chart with labels.  Once students have had a chance to see and learn the vocabulary for the parts of an apple, they can label their own apple pictures!

Johnny Appleseed

What kindergarten apple unit is complete without Johnny Appleseed?  You can use picture books to learn about Johnny Appleseed together as a class. Then students can share what they have learned through writing activities, crafts, or interactive anchor charts.

Apple Read Alouds

You can use apple read alouds to help your students learn more about the difference between fiction and nonfiction text.  I like to use books like “How Do Apples Grow?” and “Apples for Everyone” to show that nonfiction books can use either photos or illustrations.  Many young students think that nonfiction books can only use “real” photos.

After learning about apples using nonfiction books, you can contrast those with fiction picture books about apples.  One of my favorites is “Apple Trouble,” where a hedgehog has an apple stuck on his back right before it’s time to hibernate!

Color Sorting

In the fall of kindergarten, many students could still use practice with color identification and color words.  An apple unit is a great way to practice both!  After reviewing the different apple colors, students can complete apple activities where they can sort and count groups of apples. This is a great way to bring the apple theme into your math instruction!

Apple Centers

Another way to extend the apple theme into your instruction is during math and literacy centers.  There are a variety of apple-themed activities and worksheets that students can complete independently or with a partner.  One of my favorites is having students color their own take-home mini readers about apples! Remember the life cycle and labeling worksheets I mentioned earlier?  Those would also be perfect for apple-themed centers!

Apple Crafts

Crafts are another fun addition to a centers rotation, but they can also be used any time during your week of apple activities!  Crafts are a great way to help students practice using school supplies at the beginning of the year. A fun but simple craft is to have students decorate their own apple trees.  You can use bingo daubers, paint sticks, torn paper, or even tissue paper squares to fill in the tree.  Then you can add apples using tissue paper or even pom poms. Completed apple crafts look great on a bulletin board!

Click here to download this apple tree craft freebie to try in your classroom.

Apple Stamping

If you’re feeling a little bit more ambitious in the craft department, try painting with apples!  You can cut apples in half and use them as stamps.  Consider adding some experimentation to your crafting by cutting apples both horizontally and vertically, then have students see how the stamps differ.

Make Applesauce

Another more ambitious apple activity for kindergarten is to make applesauce!  If you have full-day kindergarten, use a crockpot to have the applesauce cooking throughout the day. If time permits, students can watch the process of putting everything into the crockpot.  This makes it even more exciting for them to see (and taste) the finished product!

If time or policies don’t permit you to make applesauce in the classroom, you can still collect pictures of the process! After showing students the different steps to making applesauce, you can have a taste test of applesauce that would meet your district's policies.

Apple Taste Test

Finally, another fun taste test at the end of an apple unit is to host a tasting!  Give students an opportunity to taste one apple of each color.  Be sure to use varieties that have distinct tastes, such as Granny Smith, so students can experience the different apple flavors!

After your apple tasting, be sure to let students vote on their favorite apple!  You can compile the votes onto a class graph for math time.  For literacy practice, students could write and illustrate a sentence about which apple is their favorite.  

Teaching an Apple Thematic Unit

If you’d like to see a walkthrough of the activities that I include in an apple thematic unit, be sure to check out this video!

Printable Apple Activities for Kindergarten

The printable activities pictured above can be found in my printable All About Apples activity pack.  It includes both print and digital activities that you can use for your next apple thematic unit.  You can find this resource in the Teaching Exceptional Kinders shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Save These Kindergarten Apple Activities

I hope that this post has given you some fun ideas for your next apple unit!  Would you like to come back to these ideas and resources later? Just add the pin below to your favorite kindergarten board on Pinterest!