Fall is finally officially in the air!  I mean, I suppose it’s technically been in the air for a few weeks by this point, but I can finally feel the temperatures getting cooler at night and in the mornings.  And so, we are ready for all the fun fall activities!  We’ve got big plans this month.  We’re hoping to get to the Pumpkin Patch, perhaps the museum, a day trip to the Zoo, and we might even squeeze a little family vacation in, too!

We’ve also been adding lots of Fall activities to our “school” routines around here and today I’m excited to share a really fun apple counting activity that I think you’ll love!

This apple counting activity is a great way to encourage number sense (counting), representation, and one to one correspondence with your preschooler.

I made our apple counting worksheets with construction paper, but to make it easier, I’ve created a simple, printable worksheet counting 1-10 that you can download for free at the end of this post!

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Apple Counting Activity for Preschool

Just a note on the worksheets – I’ve created two versions of the worksheets.  The first is blank and is for use specifically with this finger painting activity.  The other already has apples in each tree, 1-10, and can be used for younger children, or you may wish to cut them into counting flashcards.  For this, I recommend either printing them on heavier paper or using a laminating machine to protect the flashcards.

(I use this laminating machine at home and LOVE it.  It’s really affordable and we haven’t had trouble with it.  Amazon also makes a larger one – that’s also a steal.  I definitely recommend it if you plan to use these printables over and over.)

Apple Counting Activity: Supplies

• FREE Apple Counting Printable Worksheets (scroll down for download)
• Finger paint (We used red, but you can use any colors you want.)
• Small bowl (or empty egg carton, or paper plate) to hold paint
• Damp cloth to wipe fingers
• Art smock, optional (but we always have this one on  hand when we paint.  We’ve had it for a year, and it should fit for a few years to come!)

Instructions

All you need to do for this activity is simply

1. Print the apple counting worksheets.
2. Have your child tell you the number beside each tree.
3. Use his/her finger to paint that many “apples” on each tree such that the number of apples on the tree matches the number beside each tree.

And that’s it. We had lots of fun with this and pretended that we were making an apple orchard!

For more math skills practice, you can compare your apple trees.  Talk about which trees have more or less apples, which tree has the most, etc.

This was part of a fun apple themed week that we did here at home.  We also made applesauce muffins, learned about the life-cycle of an apple, and read lots of apple themed books!

DON’T FORGET TO DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE APPLE COUNTING WORKSHEETS HERE (blank for finger painting) & HERE (with apples included for counting flashcards)!

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