Check out these 15 fun and easy apple activities for fall perfect toddlers and preschoolers! Here you will find easy STEAM activities, hands-on learning and sensory play ideas all with an apple theme.

September is here and that means, cooler weather, school and apples! Apple themed activities are a great way to practice everything from letters and numbers, enjoy sensory play and STEAM ideas. They are fun ideas to do before and after you go apple picking or after you pick up a bushel of apples from the market!

15 Apple Themed Activities for Toddlers & Preschoolers

1. Apple Pie Playdough

Make the best smelling Apple Pie Playdough using this easy no-cook playdough recipe. Fall is the perfect time to make this homemade apple pie playdough recipe for your kids! It’s soft, squishy and smells just like apple pie!

Materials

• Flour
• Salt
• Cream of tartar
• Cooking oil
• Warm water
• Red food coloring
• Apple pie spice or cinnamon
• Large bowl
• Spoon

How to Make Apple Pie Playdough

1. Combine the dry ingredients and apple pie spice in a large bowl.
2. Add the oil, warm water, and a few drops of red food coloring.
3. Stir until the mixture begins to form a dough, then knead it with your hands until it is smooth and soft.
4. Add a little more flour if it feels too sticky.
5. Store the playdough in an airtight container when playtime is over.

2. Dot Sticker Apple Activity

This Dot Sticker Apple Activity is an easy fine motor activity that requires very little setup. Peeling and placing stickers is excellent practice for little fingers!

Materials

• Large piece of paper
• Marker
• Red, green, or yellow dot stickers

How to Set It Up

1. Draw a large apple outline on a piece of paper. Give your child a sheet of dot stickers and invite them to peel off the stickers and place them inside the apple.
2. For older preschoolers, turn it into a learning activity by writing numbers or letters inside the apple and asking them to cover specific ones with stickers.

3. Apple Pie Oobleck

Apple Pie Oobleck combines messy sensory play with a simple kitchen science experiment. Kids will love squeezing, scooping, and watching this unusual mixture change between feeling solid and liquid.

Materials

• Cornstarch
• Water
• Apple pie spice or cinnamon
• Red food coloring
• Large bowl or sensory bin
• Spoon or scoop

How to Make It

1. Pour cornstarch into a bowl or sensory bin. Slowly mix in water until you get the classic oobleck consistency—it should feel firm when squeezed but flow through your fingers when you relax your hand.
2. Add red food coloring and a sprinkle of apple pie spice. Let your child scoop, squeeze, stir, and explore.

4. Fizzy Apple Volcanoes

Turn real apples into Fizzy Apple Volcanoes with this exciting fall STEM activity. The bubbling reaction makes this an especially fun apple science experiment for preschoolers.

Materials

• Apples
• Baking soda
• Vinegar
• Food coloring, optional
• Knife for adult use
• Tray or shallow container
• Spoon or dropper

How to Make Fizzy Apple Volcanoes

1. An adult should cut a hole into the top of each apple and remove some of the inside to create a small opening.
2. Place the apples on a tray and spoon baking soda into each opening. Add a few drops of food coloring if desired. Pour or squirt vinegar into the apple and watch the fizzy eruption!

5. Apple Washing Station

An Apple Washing Station is one of the easiest fall sensory activities to put together. Toddlers and preschoolers can scrub, rinse, scoop, and play while practicing everyday life skills.

Materials

• Apples
• Large sensory bin or container
• Water
• Small bowl
• Child-safe scrub brush
• Sponges or washcloths
• Towels

How to Set It Up

1. Fill a sensory bin with a small amount of water and add several apples. Set out brushes, sponges, and washcloths.
2. Invite your child to wash and scrub the apples. They can transfer apples between containers, rinse them, and dry them with a towel when they are finished.

6. Magnetic Apple Sorting Sensory Bin

This Magnetic Apple Sorting Sensory Bin combines sensory play, sorting, and an introduction to magnets for an easy apple-themed STEM activity.

Materials

• Sensory bin or sensory table and bins
• green rice (see above for recipe)
• Green, yellow, red and brown pipe cleaners
• Magnetic Wands
• Paper
• Sharpie or Marker

How to Set It Up

1. Grab your red, green and yellow pipe cleaners and wrap them into a shape of an apple. Make Large apples using the whole pipe cleaner. Make a slightly smaller apple for the medium sized and them cut the pipe cleaner in half to create the small apple sized. 
2. Cut a green pipe cleaner into 4 pieces and shape it into the shape of a leaf. Attached it to a brown pipe cleaner to the top the apple for the stem and leaf.
3. Place your apples in the sensory bin along with bowls and your magnetic wands.

7. Apple Tree Q-Tip Counting Activity

The Apple Tree Q-Tip Counting Activity combines early math with painting and fine motor practice.

Materials

• Paper
• Marker
• Green paint
• Red paint
• Q-tips
• Small containers for paint

How to Set It Up

1. To set up your apple tree counting box, grab your markers and a small box such as a shoe box. Draw the outline of six apple trees. In the trunk write the number of apples you would like your little one to count on that tree. For toddlers stick with 1 to 6 and for preschoolers you can go higher.
2. Next, cut q-tips in half and colour the ends red using a marker or a dot marker. Finally, take a pair of scissors and poke holes in the tree foliage to match the number on the trunk. Your child will stick their q-tip apples in these holes! You don’t want the holes to be too big. They should be big enough that your child can easily slide the q-tips in and have the tip rest on the top of the box. 
3. Invite your preschooler to count out apples and place them in the trees. First, have them identify the number on the trunk and them count out the number of holes. Next, invite them to place the apples on the tree counting as they go. 

8. Cotton Ball Apple Tree Counting Activity

This Cotton Ball Apple Tree Counting Activity is another playful way for preschoolers to work on counting and one-to-one correspondence.

Materials

• Cotton Balls
• Glue
• Paint sticks
• Cardboard
• Eye droppers
• Bowls
• Food Colouring
• Water

How to Set It Up

1. Grab a piece of cardboard. You’ll want it to be large enough to fit the apple trees and have extra room around it to help to keep the mess down.
2. Use your paint sticks and draw 6 trees. Then take a sharpie and write the numbers you want your little one to count to on the trunk. 
3. Take your cotton balls and glue down the same number of cotton balls on the green foliage of the tree. (If doing this activity with a preschooler you can have them do this part of the activity).
4. Once they get the hang of squeezing and letting go to draw the water up the eye dropper you can add yellow, green and red food colouring into bowls of water. 
5. Invite your child to identify a number on the tree and then count the cotton balls. Then have them use the eye droppers to count and colour the cotton ball apples!

9. Apple Shapes Sorting Sticky Wall

Practice shape recognition with an Apple Shapes Sorting Sticky Wall. This vertical activity also gets kids standing, reaching, and moving while they learn.

Materials

• Contact paper
• Painter’s tape
• Construction paper
• Scissors
• Marker

How to Set It Up

1. Attach contact paper to a wall with the sticky side facing outward and secure it with painter’s tape.
2. Grab your red construction paper and cut out the outline of various shapes, such as a circle, heart, square and triangle. Out of brown and green construction paper cut out a stem and leaf for each shape apple. 
3. Out of black construction paper cut out small shape apple seeds.
4. Invite your toddler or preschooler to sort the apple seed shapes onto the correct shape apple on the sticky wall.

10. Apple Bubble Foam Sensory Bin

An Apple Bubble Foam Sensory Bin is fluffy, bubbly sensory fun for an apple or fall theme.

Materials

• Water
• Child-friendly liquid soap
• Red food coloring or washable liquid watercolor, optional
• Large bowl
• Hand mixer or whisk
• Sensory bin
• Apple-themed toys or play items
• Cups and scoops

How to Make It

1. Combine a small amount of water and liquid soap in a large bowl. Add coloring if desired. Whip the mixture until it becomes thick and foamy.
2. Transfer the foam to a sensory bin and add apple-themed play items, cups, spoons, or scoops. Let your child dig, scoop, pour, and search through the bubbles.

11. Coffee Filter Apple Craft

Coffee Filter Apple Craft is a fun Fall craft for toddlers and preschoolers. A fun fine motor craft idea that creates a stunning craft that looks even better in your window! Find the full instructions here or below.

Materials

• Coffee Filters
• Red, yellow and green dot markers
• Spray bottle
• Water
• Black, brown and green construction paper
• Scissors
• Glue
• Double sided tape

How to Set It Up

1. Grab a few coffee filters and spray them completely with red, yellow and green dot markers.
2. Take a spray bottle filled with water and spray the coffee filter until it’s completely wet but not soaking. Try not to wet it too much otherwise the color will run a lot but if your little one does it ok! I encourage my kids to color in several coffee filters so they have a bunch to spray.
3. Set it aside to dry.
4. Cut out an outline of an apple from black construction paper, a stem from brown construction paper and a leave from green construction paper.
5. Once the coffee filter is dry, glue the coffee filter to the apple outline. Cut the extra coffee filter part that stuck out from the apple outline.
6. Glue on the stem and leaf. 
7. Display your apple craft on a window using double sided tape.

12. Paint Splat Apple Craft

Create this adorable apple craft using a fun and easy paint splat technique. A fun way to explore symmetry. Find the full instructions here or below.

Materials

• Paper plates
• Red, green, or yellow paint
• Black construction paper (for that beaming smile!)
• Green and brown construction paper (for the stem and leaf)
• Googly eyes
• Glue

How to Set It Up

1. Splat Time: Take your paper plate and fold it in half and light crease the center. Open it up again and put some red paint all over one side of the paper plate.
2. Fold the plate in half again and invite your little one to use their fingers to move the paint inside the paint all over. Place something on the table just in case some of the paint oozes out of the paper plate. 
3. Open the plate up and check out the cool symmetrical shape that they made. You can talk about symmetry here with you child (no matter their age) and show them that the shape is the same on both sides of the fold.
4. Cut out a smile for the apple from black construction paper. Glue it on to the pumpkin, along with the googley eyes.
5. Cut out a stem and a leaf and glue the, to the top of the apple.

13. Apple Colour Sorting Sensory Bag

Apple colour sorting sensory bag is a great way to practice colour recognition and sorting with toddlers and preschooler this fall. Find the full instructions below or here.

Materials

• Large zip-top bag
• Clear hair gel or similar sensory-bag filler
• Pony beads
• Tape
• Permanent Markers

How to Set It Up

1. Grab a large gallon sized ziplock bag and an alcohol wipe. Clean off the white label on the bag using the alcohol wipe. Take your colorful sharpies and draw a rainbow set of apples – six in all from red to purple. Don’t forget to add a stem and leaf to your apples. 
2. Grab your pony beads in all the colours of the rainbow from red to purple and add them to the sensory bag. At least 10 of each would be enough.
3. Next, add enough water and hair gel in a 1:2 ratio to allow the pony beads to move easily but not too much. If you add too much water the beads will continue to float and it will be hard keep the beads in one spot. Add more hair gel if they start floating around too much.
4. Seal the sensory bag and remove as much air as you can. Seal the top using clear packing tape. Attach the sensory bag to a table or floor surface using painter’s tape.
5. Invite your preschooler to move the pony beads into the apples that match the colour.

14. Cotton Ball Apple Tree Craft

This Cotton Ball Apple Tree Craft is an easy fall art project that also gives preschoolers plenty of fine motor practice. Full the instructions below or here.

Materials

• White paper
• Brown and green construction paper or paint
• Cotton balls
• Red paint
• Glue
• Clothespin, optional

How to Make It

1. Grab a piece of cardboard. You’ll want it to be large enough to fit the tree and have extra room around it to help to keep the mess down.
2. Use your paint sticks and draw and colour in the trunk of the tree. Then use a pencil to draw the outline of a tree. Hand the piece of cardboard to your little one to do the rest. 
3. Hand them a squeeze bottle of glue or glue stick and invite them to trace the top of the tree with the glue. Also have them squeeze glue all inside the tree. Then have them stick cotton pad in the glue to create the leaves of the tree. 
4. Next have then stick cotton ball in between the cotton pads. The cotton balls with become the apples. Show them how to do their first.
5. Once they get the hang of squeezing and letting go to draw the water up the eye dropper you can add green and red food colouring into bowls of water. 
6. Invite your child to using the eye droppers to colour the cotton balls apple tree! Let them squeeze the red coloured water into the cotton balls to create apples and green water on the cotton pads to create the leaves.

15. Letter Aa Sticky Wall

Extend your apple theme into early literacy with a Letter Aa Sticky Wall. It’s a simple way for toddlers and preschoolers to become familiar with uppercase and lowercase Aa. Find the full instructions below or here.

Materials

• Contact paper
• Painter’s tape
• Construction paper
• Marker
• Paper letter or apple cutouts

How to Set It Up

1. Attach contact paper to a wall with the sticky side facing outward and secure the edges with painter’s tape.
2. Grab your black sharpie and write a large uppercase and lowercase A.
3. Cut red and green tissue paper into squares and place them into bowl. Cut out a large stem out of the brown construction paper, a large leaf out of the green construction paper and four apples seeds out of black construction paper.
4. Invite your little one to decorate the letters. They can either do each letter in a different colour or combine the colors! When they are done let them add the brown stem and green leaf.
5. This is a great activity to really talk about the letter A and the sound it makes. Ask your child to think of other words that start with A. Review other words that start with the letter A.

Apple Themed Activities for Toddlers & Preschoolers FAQs

Q: What can toddlers learn from apple themed activities?

Apple activities can introduce toddlers to colors, counting, matching, sorting, new vocabulary, and simple cause-and-effect concepts. Sensory activities can also provide opportunities to practice scooping, pouring, squeezing, transferring, and other fine motor movements.

Q: What apple activities are best for toddlers?

Simple, open-ended activities are usually a great fit for toddlers. Apple washing, dot sticker activities, sensory bins, sticky walls, playdough, and supervised water play can all work well. Choose materials appropriate for your child’s developmental stage and avoid small pieces for children who still put objects in their mouths.

Q: What apple activities are good for preschoolers?

Preschoolers may enjoy apple activities that incorporate early learning concepts. Try apple counting activities, letter matching, color and shape sorting, fizzy apple experiments, crafts, playdough, and sensory bins.

Q: How can I use these activities for an apple preschool theme?

Choose activities from different learning areas to create an apple-themed preschool unit. For example, try Fizzy Apple Volcanoes for science, an Apple Post-it Letter Match for literacy, Cotton Ball Apple Tree Counting for math, and Apple Pie Playdough for sensory play.

Q: What skills do apple activities help develop?

Depending on the activity, children can practice fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, counting, one-to-one correspondence, color recognition, shape recognition, letter recognition, sorting, vocabulary, sensory exploration, and simple scientific observation.

Q: How do you make an apple theme more educational?

Add simple questions and learning prompts to play. Ask children to count apples, sort them by color, compare sizes, identify the first letter in “apple,” make patterns, or predict what will happen during an apple science experiment. Keep the learning playful rather than turning every activity into a lesson.

Q: Are these apple activities suitable for daycare and preschool classrooms?

Many of these activities can be adapted for classrooms, daycare centers, and small groups. Sensory bins, sticky walls, counting activities, sticker activities, and letter matching work especially well as learning centers. Adjust materials and supervision based on the ages and needs of the children.

Q: When is the best time to do apple themed activities?

Apple activities are especially fun in late summer and fall when apples are in season, but you can enjoy them at any time of year. They work particularly well alongside an apple preschool theme, fall unit, farm theme, or a trip to an apple orchard.

Q: What safety precautions should I take with apple activities?

Always supervise toddlers and preschoolers closely. Choose age-appropriate materials, avoid choking hazards for children who mouth objects, supervise all water activities, and have an adult handle knives or other sharp tools. Sensory materials such as playdough, oobleck, bubble foam, and craft supplies should not be eaten unless the recipe is specifically intended to be edible.

Age Suitability for Apple Activities

This activity is good for toddlers, pre-k, kindergarten aged children 3 years old and up. My kids are 4.5, 4.5 and 8 years old.

WILL YOU MAKE THESE APPLE ACTIVITIES WITH YOUR KIDS? PIN IT FOR LATER!