As autumn seems to have hit and our apple trees are full of fruit it’s an ideal time to explore the theme of apples with your toddlers and preschoolers. And for this week’s book based Activity as part of our Virtual Book Club for Kids, we have a counting and number recognition math activity that is easy to set up and you can leave out this week for them to revisit during the week.
Our featured book for this week is Ten Red Apples by Pat Hutchins scroll down to find out more about this book and other Apple Book Recommendations for your preschoolers and toddlers to read together as you do this and our other Virtual Book Club for Kids Apple Week Activities
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What you need for This Simple Apple Math Activity for Toddlers and Preschoolers
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Brown, green and red paper or cardstock
Apple Tree Math Activity for Preschoolers
T is at the stage of being able to count quite high – she counts by rote to 28 and then the numbers get muddled, but counting by rote is different than actually physically counting – 1 to 1 correspondence or counting out objects. So simple activities that work on this are helping her get the idea.
She’s also starting to get the idea that numbers can be written by symbols and words. So we’re starting off working with the numbers 1 to 5 and working on “reading”, matching and counting out the correct numbers.
Starting out I cut out some basic tree trunk shapes (5), Tree top shapes (5) and then some red circle shapes to represent the apples on the trees (15 in total).
T and I then stuck the apple trees together and counted out 1 apple on the first tree, 2 apples on the 2nd, 3 apples on the 3rd, 4 on the 4th and 5 on the 5th. I then wrote the number of apples on the trunk of the tree.
With our apple counters we set about placing the apples on the trees – first counting the number of apples on the tree;
Tracing the number on the trunk with our finger;
Then using the tongs to move the apple counter to the tree.
Initially, we started working on the apple trees in numerical order going from 1 to 5 and 5 to 1 but as the week has progressed we have moved to pick the numbers at random.
The Apple Tree Maths is a fun autumn themed activity for preschoolers to encourage 1 to 1 correspondence and number recognition whilst working on fine motor skills at the same time.
Featured Apple Book for Toddlers and Preschoolers
Each week as our Virtual Book Club for Kids we feature a picture book that we recommend to read aloud with Toddlers and preschoolers plus a selection of other books that we would also recommend to either add to your book basket this week or exchange for the featured book.
This week’s featured book is Ten Red Apples by Pat Hutchins. It is our favourite apple themed book for this age range as not only does it count backwards from 10 with the apples taken from the tree but also features many of our favourite farm animals.
More Apple Themed Books for Toddlers and Preschoolers
Ten Apples Up on Top by Dr Seuss
Apples by Gail Gibbons
Apples, Apples, Apples by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace
The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall
More Apple Themed Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers
Why not get cooking in the kitchen and make this delicious Apple and Cinnamon Loaf Cake it may sound complicated but it’s an ideal recipe to cook with Toddlers and Preschoolers.
Head to the orchard and get hands-on with these 5 Fun Learning Activities as you Pick Apples.
Make some 2-ingredient Apple Play Dough and use this for sensory play
Use our FREE printable Red and Green Apples to work on number lines and number bonds with your older preschoolers.
Get creative with our favourite Apple Crafts for Toddlers and Preschoolers.
Cerys Parker
Cerys is a marine biologist, environmental educator, high school teacher and mum. Realising that life doesn't have to be put on hold and you don't just have to survive whilst the kids are young she shares ideas to inspire you to LIVE with the kids, with activities to do together, recipes to cook and enjoy and family travel to make memories to last a lifetime.