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15 Amazing Apple Farmer Annie Activities

Mini Unit:  Apple Farmer Annie Activities

Apple Farmer Annie Activities for Preschool and Kindergarten

Apple Farmer Annie by Monica Wellington is one of those children’s picture books that just sticks with you.  The illustrations are detailed and bright; the story is simple but entertaining.  When I teach my children about apples, usually in preschool then again in kindergarten, I always include this book because the Apple Farmer Annie activities are so engaging!  It should definitely be on your bookshelf.

A Day with Apple Farmer Annie

When I teach preschool and kindergarten, I like to teach in with themes, or unit studies.  And one of the most common theme in August or September to teach is apples!  I think it has to do with the fact that this theme is something that most children are fairly familiar with what apples are and the fact that there are so many fun and educational activities to do with apples.  

So after I decide on a weekly theme, I decide on which books to read and base each day’s activities on.  I usually will pick 5 main books as the core books for the week, then I will add more books related to the theme to the bookshelf in our book nook.  If we have time, we will read aloud those too.  If not, they are there for my kids to look at when they want.

I’ll be showing you what we do for Apple Farmer Annie activities during apple week.

Centers for Apple Farmer Annie

If you are teaching in a classroom, you would call these activities “centers” or “center work”.  Homeschoolers don’t usually have centers set up like a classroom (wish I had the space!), but we usually call them something like morning bin work, or independent activities, games, or something similar.

Sorting Apples by Attributes Math Center

Sorting by attributes is a much needed math skill to master.  Preschoolers and kindergarteners both need to work on this.  Since Apple Farmer Annie talks about organizing and sorting the apples that she picks, sorting apples is the perfect math center activity!

I like to use the Learning Resources Attribute Apples set.  My kids absolutely love these apples, even the older kids.  If you don’t have this set, you can print different colors and sizes of apples, apples with and without worms, and apples with and without leaves.

Use sorting mats with pictures and words to help kids sort by attributes.  Tip: Even if they can’t read yet, label things with words along with pictures.  You will be surprised at how much they learn words this way.

After you show them how to do this once, they should be able to go through each mat set and sort on their own.

Matching Apples Capitals to Lowercase Activity for Literacy Center

Matching lowercase to capital letters and vice versa is another important skill to acquire for preschoolers and kindergarteners.  They may not master this until kindergarten but it’s great to practice it in preschool. 

We like to use this simple two-piece puzzle pieces that I created to match the capitals and lowercase letters.  For preschoolers, I would only start out with a few letters at a time.  Then slowly build up to more.  It would be very overwhelming for a preschooler to see all of those letters at once and be told to match them.

One thing I like to do is make a simple file folder game out of these.  Just take velcro dots and put on the back of the puzzle pieces.  Take a black marker and outline the pieces on a plain file folder and put a velcro dot in the middle of the outline.  To start them off, put all the capital pieces on and have the kids find the lowercase letters to match.  Since the file folder can’t hold all 26 pairs, this helps to keep the amount of puzzle pieces from becoming overwhelming.

Science Activity with Apples

This activity can be done as a center or independently, or it can be done with you and all the kids.  Older siblings like this activity too.

Exploring parts of an apple is a good activity to do after reading Apple Farmer Annie since she bakes lots of different things with apples.  Make sure you have these materials first: apples with stems, large plastic kids tweezers, magnifying glass, lemon juice to keep apple from turning brown, and optional is a divided plate/tray to keep the parts separated.

Cut up the apple into quarters and make sure you get the seeds out.  Twist the stem off, and cut some apple skin off.  Your apples may not have leaves, but that’s okay.  If you took a field trip to an apple orchard during your apple week, you might have some apples that have leaves. But if not, just have your child draw a picture of an apple leaf on the worksheet.  

You can go ahead and divide up the apple parts on a tray or leave them mixed up.  I created a color worksheet that you can laminate and have your child grab the apple parts with the plastic tweezers and lay in the correct box on the laminated worksheet.  Encourage them to use a magnifying glass to look at the parts up close.  Take a quick picture of the finished sheet.  Then have them look at the parts and sketch them on the black and white worksheet.  Art and science combined!

Apple Farmer Annie Worksheets

Here are a few worksheets I created to go along with Apple Farmer Annie.  

Story Sequencing Worksheet

To practice reading skills, I made this Apple Farmer Annie story sequence worksheet.  You would read each sentence and let your child pick out which picture at the bottom matches the sentence.  Then he would cut the picture out and glue it in the correct order.  Be sure to read the whole thing at the end!

Math and Phonics Worksheets

The phonics worksheet practices more matching lowercase letters to capitals with a quick cut and glue worksheet.   

And the math worksheet has your child count the apples in a basket and draw a line to the matching number. 

Apple Farmer Annie Activities: Writing Prompt Worksheet

Annie uses her apples in many different ways; she makes apple cider, applesauce, apple butter, and apple pies.  A good writing prompt for kids is “My favorite way to eat apples is….”   Sometimes children come up with some funny answers!  If your child can’t write yet, just have him dictate his answer to you for you to write.

Video of APPLE FARMER ANNIE activities

Apple Farmer Annie Crafts

Here’s some choices of fun crafts to do on Apple Farmer Annie day:

  1. Since Apple Farmer Annie made apple pies, here is a cute apple pie craft from A Little Pinch of Perfect

  2. I did this one from Kinder Craze with my 4-year old. We still have it hanging up in a window

  3. To go along with the apple baskets used for picking apples, here is a cute take on apple prints from Premeditated Leftovers

  4. This is definitely a unique craft from Surviving A Teacher’s Salary It gets an A+ for being so cool – candy apples!

  5. Messy Little Monster made these Fizzy Paint Apple Craft that brings science and art together.

Apple Farmer Annie Activities in a Mini Unit


So there it is!  A day of Apple Farmer Annie activities!  If you would like to use these activities so that you save time by not having to hunt down activities on the internet, click here at my Teachers Pay Teachers store. If you would like a whole week’s worth of literature-based activities for preschool and kindergarten, buy the whole week of apple-themed lesson plans bundle right HERE.

FREE Apple Coloring Pages

Grab these FREE Apple Color-by-Code Coloring Pages to go along with your Apple Farmer Annie activities or any apple theme lessons! Fill in the form below and check your email.

Have fun!

Jacquelyn

Want to know about who I am ? Check out my About Me page and see how long I’ve homeschooled my 4 children.

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