Fall is here and with that, I have decided to introduce the fall season to my one year old by setting up some Apple-inspired crafts.
I chose a few activities to do during the week.
I prepared all the materials needed for each of the activities ahead of time. I did this on Sunday to ensure I had all the materials needed.
This was my first time creating some sort of lesson plan. The idea was to have one activity to do each day.
by having everything prepared ahead of time it was easier to grab and play and I wouldn’t get lazy just thinking about looking for materials.
I simply had everything ready for when I needed to do a craft.
Because my week lesson plan was all about apples, I scoured the internet for some ideas. I selected a few toddler apple theme activities, one for each day of the week – Monday through Sunday.
I knew there was a chance I wasn’t going to do them all, but at least I had a plan in case I sis needed them.
TODDLER APPLE THEME ACTIVITIES
I didn’t follow my daily plan, I just went with my mood or his Mood and chose the best activity from the selection that suited us for the day.
Wear The Color of the Week
One way to teach colors is to eat, wear, and play with the color we are learning. This week with our apples we did a lot of red and green activities so of course we had to choose outfits that matched our color of the week!
RED Treasure Basket
Treasure baskets is a Montessori approach to letting your little ones learn more about the world using real objects they can explore independently. Apples are green, red, or yellow so this week we did 3 color baskets to explore. You can read more about treasure baskets here
Apple sun catchers
If there is one multi-purpose material you will use often is contact paper. I purchased the matte type as it was way cheaper and for activities I like to save money where I can.
Cut an apple shape using construction paper and make a hole in the center.
Cut a circle or oval shaped contact paper and tape it to the apple you just made.
With tape, secure the apple to a window sticky side up.
Cut stripes of cellophane paper (I had this from a birthday gift) and place them on the apple.
Manny at one year old was more interested in peeling off the papers I had placed than placing them in. After all, at this age, they are destroyers than constructors. And that’s ok.
So I added a few papers onto the apple and allowed him to peel them off, at the end of the day, he was working on the pinching skill (pincer grasp) which late on helps with holding a pencil. He was working on eye-hand coordination, and he was being entertained.
To make it more challenging and work on some pinching skills, I made little balls using the cellophane paper so he would really have to focus to take those out.
Apple picking with Pom poms
This activity took a little bit of work because I had to create the tree scenery but once I did, I just added packing take (sticky side up) and red Pom poms to represent the apples. I presented the tree to my toddler and he had a great time picking the apples and putting them back on. He loved the sound of the packing tape when doing this.
To make the tree I used foam sheets and cut them into clouds, a tree trunk and the top. Then used tape to hold on the Pom poms.
If you don’t want to make such a crafty thing, you can print this apple printable and just add the pom-poms over each apple.
Counting apples mat
We had recently purchased some busy book sheets and a counting apple tree was included, so we played with that too. We only counted from 1-5 but I let him play with the apples.
Apple scented playdough
This is my favorite thing about fall! The smell of cinnamon and nutmeg. This apple scented Playdough is a lot of fun to make and it can last you all the way u til Christmas. It is a great opportunity to introduce playdough. It is toxic-free so if your little one still mouths everything, nothing will happen.
Apple Scented Playdough
Ingredients
- 1 cup of flour (plus extra for kneading)
- 1 cup of water
- 1/4 cup salt
- ½ Tbsp oil
- 1 tsp Cream of Tartar
- 1 tsp Nutmeg
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- Red Food Coloring
Instructions
- Because this is a cooked recipe, get a saucepan ready and measure all of your ingredients before starting.
- Place a cutting board nearby with flour sprinkled on it – set aside.
- Place all dry ingredients (flour, salt, cream of tartar, nutmeg, cinnamon) in a bowl and mix well. Then place in the sauce pan. You can do all of this directly in the saucepan for less cleanup
- On a separate bowl, mix all the wet ingredients (water, oil, food coloring) and mix well.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix over medium/low heat
- Cook the playdough and mix constantly until the playdough starts sticking together forming a ball
- Remove from heat and place over the cutting board that’s covered in flour and start kneading with two wooden spoons.
- Knead the playdough using the spoons until the playdough has cool down and you can continue kneading with your hand.
- Sprinkle flour (1 Tbsp at a time) if you find the playdough feels sticky and it is sticking to your fingers.
- When you get the consistency where the playdough is no longer sticking to your hands you are done.
- If you added too much flour and the playdough is breaking up, just add 1 Tbsp of warm water until you get the right texture.
Practice fine motors skills with red Pom-poms
Fine motor skills are not just a vital skill to practice on but a fun one! Although this one doesn’t exactly use an apple it was still Apple-inspired because the red Pom-poms represemt the apples.
I used our empty milk container and cut a hole in the front.
I added some duct tape around to protect any rough edges.
I had Manny insert a few Pom-poms to drop from the top opening and catch at the bottom. Great eye-hand coordination activity! I just love DIY toys!
I repeated the word “red” every time he would drop the pom-Pom.
Counting apples using Pom-poms
Again, I didn’t use apples but I used pon-poms to represent our apples.
We worked on placing one Pom-Pom at a time in the cupcake container and counted as we placed them in.
At one year old we used a 6 cupcake container but if you have an older toddler you can use a 12 or 24 one.
Stamping with apples
This was a lot of fun! We actually did this again at two year old and shared our learned tricks to make this activity even better! Read them here
I cut the apple horizontal so that Manny could use the stem as an aid to hold the apple.
He dipped the apple in paint and placed it on the paper.
I carved a star onto the apple to get a cute negative space design into the paper but it didn’t transfer well. It was more work than the effect so I suggest you don’t even bother unless you do the design differently.
Update: A trick I learned later on is to create a handle by cutting the apple on the sides. It definitely makes it easier to grab! (And it is still a favorite activity around here a year later)
So there you have it, a full week of Apple-inspired crafts we did. Not all were time-consuming to prepare so it was a nice balance of quick an easy and more elaborate ones.
Apple Science Experiment
This was such a fun messy class we did! It was all about getting messy and trying new textures. For the little ones we did colores oatmeal with apples while for the older ones we did Oobleck. Also taste-safe but a bit harder to explore for little hands. Either one you choose I hope you have lots of fin!
Lear about our apple oobleck events and get the recipe here
How to teach colors
If you want more ideas how to teach colors to your one year old, I created a package to teach you how to do it and lots of activity ideas. For now, explore the guide how to get started, and if you like it, you can get the bundle will all the ideas ready for you!
How to teach colors to a One Year Old