Apple Stamping craft šŸŽ {Benefits and tips to set up a stamping activity }

Itā€™s fall, and with that, it is apple season! Use those extra apples to create this fun apple stamping! This toddler craft is great for toddlers, preschoolers, and beyond.

Materials Needed

Easy Directions

Follow these easy instructions to do this apple stamp painting project. Follow below for detailed instructions on each step.

  • Cut the apple in half
  • Prepare the painting area
  • Dip apple into paint and stamp it onto the paper
  • Model activity and handoff to the child to try
  • Use different stamping tools to extend the activity
  • Let the project dry and hang in a visible place

Prepare the apple Stamp

There are different ways to prepare the apple for stamping. You can just cut the apple in half and present your toddler with it. Or you can create some of the fun handles to make it easier.

When apple stamping, out the apple, can get stuck to the paper, and younger toddlers might have a harder time lifting the apple back up. Create a handle to ease up this frustration

The Basic Apple Stamping craft handle

Hold it by the stem: Cut the apple across horizontally and leave the stem on the top. The stem acts as a holder and lets your child grab the apple through the stem and lift it to stamp again.

This cut creates a fun star in the middle that when the apple has a small amount of paint, it can create a beautiful design.

Although the stem was easy to grab for me, it wasnā€™t so much for my one year old. So this year, now that he is two, we went to do the activity again. I came across a new technique, which was a lot better option for little hands.

How to create the apple stamping craft Toddler Handle

Create a bigger handle: when I saw this technique for apple stamping, I knew I had to try it! You carve a handle on the round side of the apple slice to create a better grip for little hands.

apple stamping
apple stamping craft handle

If there is too much paint, the apple will get stuck on the paper, sometimes creating a suction effect, and sometimes it can cause frustration. At least it did on my toddler. The next item to figure out is to find a way to reduce this suction effect.

Using, safe, non-toxic art materials, toddlers can get messy using their hands to feel and apply paint… These types of activities help toddlers to develop fine motor skills and cognitive abilities.

Very Well Family | benefits of art for toddlers

The Fork Handle

Another great technique (and a lot faster to set up) is to stick a fork into the apple half. The fork becomes a big handle to handle the apple. It could get tricky to stamp if they don’t have the apple half directly facing the paper.

Picking up the apple with this technique makes the apple feel a lot heavier. Little hands could have trouble with this technique, but the apple is more comfortable to grab because of the long handle the fork creates. Test it and see how your little one likes it!

Prepare the painting area

Always have the area set up before inviting your kids to participate in any art projects.

The only prep you need is to have the apples cut and ready, pour a little bit of washable paint into the container, and make sure the apple fits in it. You can always use a paper plate for this.

Have more than one sheet of craft paper in hand in case the activity is a success, and your child wants to stamp a lot.

Model The Activity

When presenting the activity to your child for the first time, always show how to perform the action.

I like to use the Montessori process when presenting an activity.

The first step is to model the activity without talking. Take an apple stamp and dip it into the paint, then slowly move over to the paper and stamp the Apple with a light press.

Hand the apple stamp to your child and wait to see what he does. Encourage him to keep the apple into the paint and stamp it onto the paper.

When modeling an activity do very small movements as a younger kidā€™s brain needs time to register the information and analyze how an activity is performed.

Other ways to play

I often like to extend the activity by presenting new materials during the project. When I saw that Manu was finishing with exploring the apple stamps I immediately presented an apple cookie cutter and showed him how to use to make the imprint.

He took on the bait! And our activity for extended a few more minutes. Hey! When you have to do a full set up to get the paint out, set up a painting place and will need to do the significant clean up after you have to get creative to make it worth more than 6 minutes of play.

I used my finger to add paint into the leaf part of the apple cookie cutter, and my son got super excited and wanted to explore the color with his fingers.

Because Iā€™m the queen of child-led, I let him explore and direct the way we played. I did show him for the first time how his finger could make a small dot imprint onto the paper if gently dabbed.

He liked the idea for 2 seconds, did a few and moved on to cover all of his hands in paint and explore how the paint felt by rubbing it against the paper and then palm to palm, followed by clapping (insert the OMG I think I got paint in my hair emoji…)

No photos for that. I was too busy cleaning up splatter paint from my kitchen counter. Kitchen? Yes, it was supposed to be a quick activity with little mess.

But people learn your lesson. When you think an activity will be mess-free, youā€™d childā€™s creativity will prove you wrong.

It was a lot of fun, and Iā€™m not worried about a little paint here and there. Thatā€™s what wet rugs exist.

Like my husband says, ā€œyou donā€™t discourage creativityā€… I guess I donā€™t šŸ¤·ā€ā™€ļø , But thatā€™s why Iā€™m the coolest sensory teacher around šŸ˜‰

Toddlers love repetition

Because I know toddlers love repetition, we repeated the apple Stamping activity for the next few days. I moved from using only red paint to adding green and yellow. We combined the apple stamping with the cookie-cutter stamping, and the result was pretty cute! For a two-year-old, this was a masterpiece! Because often, some toddlers will use the apple as a brush so you won’t see unique stamps imprints. The cookie-cutter in a different color gives it an excellent depth to it.

apple stamping craft for toddlers

I hope I didnā€™t scare you off. You donā€™t have to be so flexible like me, or you can be better prepared, after all, it was a fun activity and it is one of my favorite activities to celebrate each fall season, or when learning about the color red, or the letter A.. or when I have extra apples.

And if Iā€™d scare you off a little, read below and see why you should do more art at home! Like this excellent apple stamping fall craft for toddlers.

How DoesĀ StampĀ Help in Early Childhood Learning

source: aa1corp.com

  • RubberĀ stampĀ builds self-confidence. With rubber stamps, yourĀ childĀ will be able to develop creative skills such as inventiveness, fantasizing, thinking, and imaginative. …
  • StampĀ promotes creativity.
  • StampĀ teaches task analysis.
  • StampĀ promotes individual and group projects.

Final thoughts on apple stamping craft

Fall season Offers an excellent opportunity to do some theme-centered learning activities like this apple Stamping art project. Learn about apples, the color red, the letter A and more definitely use the arts to enhance your little learner’s mind, excellent motor skills, language development, and creativity!

If you see totally into fall crafts, you might be interested in learning how to:

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