Apple Counting Game: Glue a felt tree shape to each of five cardboard squares. Write a numer from 1 to 5 under each tree. Cut fifteen apple shapes out of felt. To play the game, have the children take turns identifying the numbers below the tree and placing the corresponding number of apples on them.
Pass the Apple: This is a version of "Hot Potato". Have the children sit in a circle with music playing. When the music stops, the child that is holding the apple goes into the "applepot" (the center of the circle). When all the "apples" are in the pot, make "applesauce" (stir, add sugar, add cinnamon, taste, etc.).
Applesauce (sung to "Yankee Doodle")
Peel an apple
Cut it up,
Cook it in a pot,
When you taste it
You will find
It's applesauce you've got!
Five Red Apples
Five red apples in a grocery store,
Bobby bought one & then there were four.
Four red apples on an apple tree,
Susie ate one & then there were three.
Three red apples. What did Alice do?
Why she ate one & then there were two.
Two red apples ripening in the sun,
Tommy ate one & now there was one.
One red apple & now we are done.
I ate the last one & now there are none!
Apples Are Falling (sung to "Are You Sleeping?")
Apples are falling, apples are falling,
From the tree, from the tree.
Pick up all the apples, pick up all the apples,
One, two, three; one, two, three.
Applesauce: Quarter, core and peel 3 to 4 sweet apples. Cut the quarter pieces in half and put them in a saucepan. Add 1/2 cup water, sprinkle on 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and simmer, covered, until the apples are tender (about 20 minutes). Have the children mash the cooked apples with a potato masher or whirl them in a blender. Cool and eat. Makes 6 servings.