“An apple a day keeps the doctor away.”
My students love painting. I took advantage of that for our September craft! Fall is known for harvesting apples and pumpkins. When I asked my students what they wanted to do for a craft, every one of them said they wanted something with “Apples!” As always, they practiced several skills completing this craft, and I was happy to be able to include a book to explain that apples are good for your health as well as for crafts!
Over the summer I had made a purchase from Temu that included wooden apple shapes. I have since discovered that the item is out of stock, but you can order them from many places including amazon, Etsy, oriental trading, or other craft stores.
Materials
- Wooden apple ornaments – Order here from Amazon
- Red, yellow, and green paint
- Adapted paint brushes
- Painters tape
- Construction paper (1/2 sheet)
- Hemp string
- Baby wipes (for fingers)
- Paper towels (for messes)
Skills
My students worked on many skills as part of this project. When I work with each of my students on this craft, I try to ensure that the particular skill focus is tied to an IEP goal in my areas and in others. This means that for one student, I might focus on attending to the task while others might be more focused on making choices.
- Making choices
- Eye-hand coordination
- Attention to task
- Bilateral coordination
- Opening containers/bags
- Soliciting assistance
Warm Up Activity
No Ordinary Apple: A Story About Eating Mindfully
A blurb from Amazon’s Website says it perfectly, “On an otherwise ordinary day, Elliot discovers something extraordinary: the power of mindfulness. When he asks his neighbor Carmen for a snack, he’s at first disappointed when she hands him an apple – he wanted candy! But when encouraged to carefully and attentively look, feel, smell, taste, and even listen to the apple, Elliot discovers that this apple is not ordinary at all”
My students and I first read the story, engaging in a discussion as we looked at pictures, defined concepts, and made predictions. When asked if they would choose candy over the apple, the answers were mixed. Several of my students are picky eaters, so I expected this, but some answers surprised me!
Apple exploration
I was super excited to encourage my students to explore apples, so I chose a day that the students would be served apple slices for lunch. We explored an apple that hadn’t been cut. I cut the apple in front of them. We smelled it. We used all of our senses to explore the outside of the apple and then once cut, the inside as well. Later, we compared the apple that I cut to the one they got on their lunch tray. I sampled the apple and encouraged my students to taste it as well. I have picky eaters, so this was not a preferred part of our monthly craft, but I’ve also spent a lot of time building strong relationships with my students, so I was pleased that most of them were willing to stretch their boundaries a little for Ms. Liz!
Painting Apples
After organizing their materials, my students set up their learning space. They had to choose the paint color for their apple ornament (red, yellow, or green) and the paint brush. They held the apple ornament while I put painter’s tape to cover the leaf/stem part of the craft. Then they helped me loop the painters tape to help secure it to the construction paper. With a sharpie marker, they wrote their name on the tape over the leaf/stem.
Finally, it was time to paint! Students helped squirt the paint from the bottle into a smaller container. Once this was done, they picked up their paint brush and painted away! When finished, they had to assist in putting the lid on the container to keep the paint from spilling.
This craft was completed over 5 days. Each side was painted and the tape adjusted to cover what was not needed to be painted. I chose painter’s tape because I’ve had students who get very upset when they accidentally paint an area that wasn’t supposed to be painted by the color they were using. This has helped to regulate frustration, tears, and possible behavior issues.
My student’s faces once they finished their craft were priceless! Using a plastic crafting needle, they helped thread the hemp through the hole on the craft for me to knot. They had to put the finished craft in a Ziploc bag to take home to their families.
The classroom teachers joined in the craft by doing Johnny Appleseed activities and worksheets in the classroom. I absolutely love it when our craft can be aligned to what the classroom teacher is working on with my students’ peers.
Extension Activities
- Apple printing with apples cut in half
- Make apple sauce
- Make dips for dipping the apple slices
- Counting apple seeds or other apple math activities
- Survey people to find out their favorite type of apple or apple recipe
- Make a book about the life cycle of an apple tree
- Practice peeling and cutting apples
More Autumn Ideas to discover
