Apples

I got this theme from Erin at Falling Flannelboards.  She had listed apples as one of her favorite themes and I had never even thought of using apples as a theme.  I was all “Challenge Accepted,” in my brain.

BOOKS:

We read Letting Go by Janet Morgan Stoeke and “Johnny Appleseed” from Very Short Tall Tales to Read Together by Mary Ann Hoberman.

I love Janet Morgan Stoeke.  I love love love Minerva Louise.  Letting Go was perfect for our theme and it was short and it was funny and all of the preschoolers and toddlers loved it.  For “Johnny Appleseed,” I got out my tin pan hat:

And read the selection out loud with my dog puppet, Buster.  Buster asked me a question and I, playing Johnny Appleseed answered.  This was fun.  I should do more with puppets and storytelling, rather than just reading.

Another book that works well for this theme is Odd Dog by Claudia Boldt.  Our local headstart was celebrating "Apple Crunch Day" by eating lots of apples and they asked if I'd come read and sing and play with them.  Odd Dog was one of my choices for that group.

View fullsize

SONG:

Thanks again to Erin at Falling Flannelboards, I had my song for the week.  We sang a song about apples to the tune of Bingo!

I know a fruit that’s good to eat and
Apple is its name-o!
A-P-P-L-E! A-P-P-L-E! A-P-P-L-E! and Apple is its name-o!
(For each subsequent verse take out a letter and substitute “munch” or “crunch”)

Here are my letters:

And their reverse sides for when we take the letters out:

FINGERPLAYS:

We did two fingerplays at headstart around this theme, both of which I borrowed from Storytime Katie. 

Eat an apple                           (put your hand to your mouth like eating an apple)
Save the core                        (make a fist)
Plant the seeds                      (touch the ground)
And grow some more           (extend arms up like a tree)

5 apples in the bowl                                                     (show five fingers)
1 fell out and started to roll                                           (roll your hands)
It bumped the table and hit my feet                            (bend down and touch your toes)
How many apples left to eat?                                      (Repeat with descending numbers)

Both of these were fabulous for headstart because they really helped the kids get their wiggles out before we read another story.

CRAFT:

For our craft, we made prints using apples!  I will admit that I am not an Iron Chef and maybe an Iron Chef could have cut the apples a little more neatly so they made better stamps.  OH WELL.  We all had fun with paint anyway!  Here is an apple print that was gifted to me.