I’m definitely a summer girl at heart, so I always get a little sad when the hot summer temperatures start turning into cooler fall weather. But, I do love the fall because of all the fun things that it brings! I love, love, love college football! It’s definitely my favorite! And now that my son is a freshman, I love high school football just as much! (Friday night lights are kind of a big deal in Texas!) I also love all the fun themes that fall brings to preschool and kindergarten classrooms! Pumpkins, leaves, scarecrows, and fire safety are all so much fun! But one of my favorite themes for this time of year is APPLES! So, I want to share some of my favorite apples activities for preschool and kindergarten with you!
Letter Tracing Busy Box
I absolutely love busy boxes! I just can’t get enough of them! They are so great for arrival time and transition times! They can be used in centers or small groups, and they are SO easy to make and store! And this letter tracing busy box is always a favorite! You can get this activity HERE. Just print, laminate, and cut the cards, add them to the busy box with a dry erase marker, and put the label on top of the box!
Your kiddos will love to practice writing their letters with these fun apple-themed cards! They can be used again and again! Sometimes getting the dry erase marker off the lamination can be challenging! Want a helpful hint for this? I always use Fellowes Laminating Pouches for these kinds of activities! I’ve never had trouble getting the dry erase marker to come off of them! Plus, I love their price! I’m also a complete and total Expo snob when it comes to dry erase! The cheap markers may save a little money at first, but they never last as long, and they definitely don’t wipe off like Expo markers do!
If you just don’t want to mess with write on/wipe off cards, you’ve got options! Just use the cards to let your kiddos practice writing their letters in sand or salt!
If you love busy boxes as much as I do, you’ll definitely want to check out my GIANT Busy Boxes All Year Bundle! It’s available in my TPT store, and it includes every single busy box in my store! That’s over 150 busy boxes in one huge bundle!
Question of the Day
Question of the Day is one of my very favorite daily routines! The kiddos love talking about and answering the theme-related questions each day, plus it always turns into a fantastic math discussion later in the day when we revisit it! You can cover all kinds of math topics like counting, comparing sets, more/less, graphing, adding, subtracting, and more! And as an added bonus, your daily graph takes your attendance for you!
This Apples Question of the Day is in my TPT store! I’ve also got a FREE name cards set that goes perfectly with this activity!
Apples Circle Time Games
Circle time is such a great time to bring fun and learning together! I love using circle time games that keep the kiddos engaged and learning while they just think they’re playing a fun game! Here are a few of my favorites for an apples theme!
Practicing number recognition is always fun when you’re going on a Worm Hunt! The kiddos love taking turns hiding the worm under one of the apples so that their friends can try to find it!
Apples on the Ground is always a favorite! And you can use it to work on letter names or sounds! There are two fun chants included in this activity, plus apples that have uppercase and lowercase letters on them!
You can never have enough activities for working on letters and sounds! So, here’s another fun circle time game that does just that! Picking Apples also has apples with both uppercase and lowercase letters and chants for both letter names and sounds!
Learning to recognize and identify colors is a big part of preschool! That’s why I love this circle time game! I Picked a Red Apple also gets your kiddos up and moving, which is also a must during circle time!
Still need more activities for your apples theme? Go check out these blog posts that are full of apples ideas!
I’d love to hear what some of your favorite apple activities are! Drop your best ideas in the comments!