Activity Corner: Autumn Apple Fun

Today we've the pleasure of sharing a wondeful Autumn Activity bought to you by Beebies Ambassador Jennie who writes over at www.edspire.co.uk . I was lucky enough to go along and join in their fun yesterday too! 

September arrives

Autumn falls

Apple harvest begins

We are very lucky to live in the heart of rural Kent

Our garden is full of blossom in the spring

Fruit in the summer

And in autumn we get busy with our treasures

Making apple juice and cider

Eating delicious apples straight from the trees

Autumn is also a time

For new routines and fresh ideas

For us

Means a new focus for our messy and sensory play

This week we have been playing with apples

Yesterday Ami from Beebies came to play

And we worked through a series of apple inspired activities

With my four year old twins Esther and William

We played inside and outside

Using all our senses

Our imagination

And developing both fine and gross motor skills

We started with a sensory apple orchard

I made Esther and William one each in a medium sized baking tray

I filled the trays with porridge oats

We then added ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg

It smelled delicious

Good enough to eat

And Esther had a lovely time

Mixing all the ingredients together

We then added red and green pom poms

To be the apples

And we asked Esther and William what creatures we might find in the orchard

In autumn

After discounting giraffes and dinosaurs

We started to think along the right track

Rabbits and robins

Squirrels and moles

Hedgehogs and badgers

Foxes and deer

Esther and William love small world play

And were happy for ages

Feeding the animals

Letting the animals roam the orchard

Placing and organising the apples

We let them enjoy this free play

And they loved it

When they were starting to show signs of being ready to move on

I gave Esther and William each some tweezers and an empty bowl

They explored the sensory tray with the new accessories

We then had a race to see who could move all their apples

From the orchard to the bowl the fastest

Esther loved this activity

Her fine motor skills are better than William’s

She was able to concentrate and move the pom poms

Using the tweezers with accuracy, control and speed

William got frustrated that he was not able to harvest his apples

As quickly as Esther and so we returned to free play

Until he had calmed down

When they were again ready to move on

I showed them a picture that I wanted them to complete using their pom poms

It needed apples to be placed in a tree and the letter A to be collaged

I gave them each a spatula and some PVA glue

William worked hard to put red pom pom apples on his tree

And green pom poms on his letter

Esther added green and red pom poms to the tree

And chose to collage her A with scented oats

This was a lovely idea that I had not thought of

And she really enjoyed making a mess while working away

Once the pictures were complete William had had enough

But Esther returned to her small world play for ages

And I have kept the trays for more sensory play today

Our third activity was outside

I wanted Esther and William to paint a tree

An apple tree

We have lots of apple trees in our garden

So with guidance from Daddy as to which ones he was happy for us to paint

We headed off with our chosen colours

To our designated tree

I am not sure who enjoyed this activity more

Esther and William

Or Ami and me?

With brushes and rollers and a range of shaped sponges

We began to paint our tree

A rainbow apple tree

Much like the Calafant model we had made a few days before

But this time we were outside

Painting a real tree

Developing our gross motor skills

And breathing in fresh autumn, country air

It was good

It was fun

Esther and William were soon painting anything and everything they could find

They decorated old fallen logs with colourful handprints

And picked and painted the apples themselves

This was a great way to extend our autumn apple sensory play

And to take our play outside

For more ideas for apple and autumn play you can follow the links to my blog below

Crab Apple Bubble Dough

Apple Art

Autumn Tracks

Autumn Leaves

Going on a Leaf Hunt

I have also been collating ideas on Pinterest here

For apple themed products from Beebies Baby Store to complement your play
Please click on the links that are here

Apple Tree Nappy from Baba and Boo

Fabric Fancies Apples

Apple Totseat

I will be writing up more autumn sensory play ideas over at Edspire this month

And I will be back to Beebies in early October with some Halloween and Fireworks themed play.