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5 Fun Apple Activities for September (That You Can Do with What You Have!)

Fall & Halloween, fall writing prompts

Fall is one of my favorite times to bring fresh themes into the classroom, and apples are always a hit with young learners. They’re simple, familiar, and so versatile for cross-curricular learning. The best part? You don’t need fancy supplies to make apple activities fun and meaningful. Here are five ideas you can try right away, plus two resources that take your apple theme even further.

apple activities

🍎 1. Apple Graphing

Bring in a few red, green, and yellow apples (or show pictures if that’s easier). Have students vote for their favorite color and create a simple graph together on chart paper. You can extend this by counting, comparing, and even writing sentences: “More students like red apples than green apples.”

🍏 2. Five Senses Apple Exploration

Slice apples and let students describe what they see, smell, taste, touch, and hear (the crunch!). Record their observations on an anchor chart to build science vocabulary. This activity doubles as a writing prompt: “My apple tastes…”

🍎 3. Apple Art with Paper Shapes

Cut construction paper into red, green, and yellow circles, plus brown rectangles for stems and green ovals for leaves. Students can assemble their own apples and then write a sentence underneath: “My apple is red.” Simple, no prep, and perfect for a bulletin board!

🍏 4. Counting Apple Seeds

Use black beans or small counters as pretend “apple seeds.” Students can practice counting, addition, and subtraction by “adding” seeds to an apple outline or “taking some away.” It’s a quick math center that can be done with laminated templates and dry erase markers.

🍎 5. Apple Stories and Writing

Read a favorite apple book (Ten Apples Up on Top, Apple Trouble!, or Johnny Appleseed). Then invite students to write or draw about apples: “If I had ten apples, I would…” or “Johnny Appleseed planted…” This ties literacy and creativity right into your apple theme.

🍏 Go Even Further with These Ready-to-Use Resources

If you want to extend your apple fun without extra prep, I have two resources that pair perfectly with the activities above:

apple activities
apple activities

With just a few apples (or some basic supplies), you can create hands-on, engaging activities that your students will love. And with ready-to-use apple resources, you’ll have everything you need to make September both fun and educational! 🍎

For more apple activities, check out my post here all about fun activities to do on Johnny Appleseed Day! 

Fun Ways To Celebrate Johnny Appleseed Day

education, Teaching Tips

Johnny Appleseed Day is coming up on September 26th, and that means it’s the perfect time to teach your students about who he is and celebrate apples! 

This holiday is all about appreciating apples and the legacy of a remarkable individual who planted apple trees across the country. If you are looking for some Johnny Appleseed Day activities and resources to have an engaging lesson to celebrate Johnny Appleseed and his favorite fruit, you’re in the right place! 

Johnny appleseed

How do you celebrate Johnny Appleseed Day?

Learn about who he was

Start by learning about the life and adventures of Johnny Appleseed! You can read books, watch videos on YouTube, or have a special lesson in class about this important historical figure. Understanding his love for apples and his contributions to our country is a great way to begin your celebration!

Do some apple themed arts and crafts

Get creative with apple-themed arts and crafts activities. Try making apple prints, drawing Johnny Appleseed’s character, or creating colorful posters that showcase the importance of apple trees. These hands-on projects will help your students express their creativity while celebrating Johnny Appleseed.

Go Apple tasting at an Apple Orchard

If possible, take a field trip! Explore the world of apples by tasting different apple varieties and, if possible, visiting a local apple orchard. Create a mini apple tasting event where you and your classmates can sample various apples and discuss your favorites. If you go to an orchard, learn about the apple-growing process and pick some apples to take home.

Plant your own apple seeds

Consider planting your own apple seeds or small apple tree saplings. This hands-on activity can help you understand the process of growing apple trees and appreciate the work this historical figure did. Over time, you can watch your apple trees grow and even produce apples of your own!

Try out some apple themed snacks and treats

End your celebration with some delicious apple-themed snacks and treats. Make apple pie, apple crisp, or apple muffins in class or at home. You can also enjoy a healthy snack of sliced apples with caramel or peanut butter. Sharing these tasty treats with your classmates is a great way to wrap up your celebration.

Looking for some easy, print and go Johnny Appleseed resources that you can easily incorporate into your lessons? I have you covered! 

Johnny appleseed

Check out this Johnny Appleseed Activities Bundle! 

Johnny appleseed activities

This bundle has it all! Crafts, writing, a digital escape, reading, math, science, and art activities! 

Johnny appleseed activities

7 Products Bundled

Craft Hat & Journal

Apple Glasses

Apple Math

Digital Escape Room (Reading and Problem Solving)

Puppet & Pop Art

Apple Sauce & Apple Pie Recipe

Biography (Week-long unit)

Opinion Writing & More

Celebrating Johnny Appleseed is such a fun activity for the fall! I hope you and your students love these Johnny Appleseed activities and  ideas as much as I do! For more activities to do with your students this fall, check out my post here!

Johnny Appleseed Day Activities

Teacher's Pay Teachers

Lesson Plans and Apple Activities

Apple Glasses Craft
Apple Glasses Craft

Johnny Appleseed is famous for planting apple seeds across land while exploring and having an adventurous life. For older students, it is fascinating to have them research his life and find out WHY he really planted the seeds. They can discover that the apples were used to make HARD CIDER because they were too small and bitter.

Younger students learn about his love of animals, his real name (John Chapman) funny personality and kindness. For twenty years, I have taught primary students about Johnny Appleseed. At the end of each school year I would survey my class and most classes remember the week we learned about apples!

Apple Lessons

Introduce Johnny Appleseed by reading a book about his life. Discuss the facts from the book. Share a video about his life because most students are visual learners, including a short video is a great way to hook your students into wanting to learn more. Then, have a different activity about apples during the week that will help them not only learn about Johnny Appleseed but the science of apples. Incorporate all subjects into your lessons. Here are some activities that are easy to plan, but hits standards:

  • Sort apples by color or a large graphing chart.
  • Make home-made applesauce. (My favorite easy recipe will be at the bottom of this post.)
  • Dissect an apple so students can see the seeds.
  • Make apple crafts!
  • Label the parts of the apple. (skin, flesh, seeds, stem, core)
  • Write a letter to Johnny Appleseed.
  • Count the apple seeds during math.
  • Incorporate the 5 senses by letting students smell and taste different types of apples.
  • Invite parents to send in apples. (I use these all week for the activities above.)
  • Have students think about their favorite color or flavor or apple. They can make a graph to see what kind was the class’ most popular.
  • Make apple glasses for students to use while reading about apples facts or apple books.
  • Have an APPLE PARTY! Invite parents to send in apples snacks to share with the class so students can see how many different ways apples are used for ingredients.

Here is my favorite EASY applesauce recipe!

First, peel the apples. Next, remove the cores out of all your apples, (you need about 1 apple per kid in your class) cube the apples and place them in a crock pot on high. Do this as a whole group activity in the morning. The room will smell SO GOOD!

I like to have parent volunteers cut up the apples in front of the students or just send them in already cut up in bags. Then, cut one apple to show them the inside and let the students pour the rest of the cubes into the crock pot. Finally, add about 1/2 a cup of Cinnamon Red Hots Candies into the pot. The red hots add some sugar and cinnamon flavoring. The red color makes the applesauce different and fun for the students. Even students who said they hated apples, eat it and LOVE IT. I leave it on high, mash it up with a potato masher later. About 30 minutes before you want to serve it (at the end of the day, so it had about 3 or 4 hours of cooking) let it cool off before giving it to the kids. It’s warm, but not hot. SO YUMMY!

Apple Activities
Apple Activities
Johnny Appleseed Unit
Johnny Appleseed Unit