Hey Mamas! I'm back this month with some fun ideas for your toddlers. Since I did a Halloween play date post last year, I decided to focus on another fun fall theme: apples! Depending on where you live, now is the perfect time to go find some of your own!

1. Apple Picking
We took Mr. G to a family friend's orchard, but there are plenty open for the public and most have other activities!

Apples are heavy!

He had a blast pulling them off the low branches and bringing them back to his pail. If you live in NC, there are tons of orchards in the foothills and mountains, and also apple festivals.

Twist and pull to pluck them off the tree!

2. Pretend Apple Picking
If you don't live near an orchard, never fear. With three pieces of felt (easily found for under $1 at craft stores or Walmart), you can create an pretend apple tree and apples, and pluck them all day long. This is a great activity for early counting skills and colors. Check out Pinterest (or Google) for Apple Tree Patterns, or just free-hand one!

Easy, affordable activity

3. How Many Apples Tall Are You?
With all the apples we picked (or you could use felt ones), we lined them up and measured our favorite stuffed friends, and ourselves!

Counting Panda's height in apples.

Mr. G got a kick out of counting them, and mentioned all day that he was 15 apples tall.

So big!

4. Make Apple Sauce
I finally let Mr. G use the apple peeler & corer (with LOTS of supervision), but you could also skip this step and just let your toddler drop them in the pot, stir, etc. My little guy is a big fan of helping me cook, so this was a definite hit.

He's been watching this for a year and I finally let him do it himself!

Plus he got to eat some at the end! I like The Pioneer Woman's applesauce recipe, but it's so basic just throw them in the pot with cinnamon and sugar and cook! (We have a learning tower, sometimes called a kitchen helper, so he can reach the counters and sink. I HIGHLY recommend these for any kiddos age 1-5).

5. Sing and Dance
Mr. G LOVES Raffi, especially the Apple and Bananas song. He can sing along with most of the verses, and had lots of fun playing with apples while doing so!


Happy Appl-ing!

Clean them up!