Paper Plate Collage Apple Craft

Here's a simple apple craft to do with your preschoolers or little ones.

Materials:

• Paper plate
• Red construction paper torn into little pieces
• A little brown and green construction paper
• Scissors
• Pencil or crayon
• Glue

Directions:

1. Beforehand cut a little notch in the paper plate to resemble an apple.
2. Spread glue all over the front of the paper plate and cover in the red paper pieces.
3. Cut a little stem from brown paper and glue to the back.
4. Cut a green leaf and glue on the top.
5. Cut a little worm from green paper and glue on the front and draw a smiley face. You could partially cover the worm with red paper to make it look like he’s coming out of a hole.

Paper Apple Craft

This paper apple craft is another variation of the recycled book pumpkin craft from Craftberry Bush. This one you don't need a book, but several sheets of white paper.

Materials:

• cardboard
• white paper
• scissors
• short stick
• strong stapler
• glue or glue gun
• red food coloring
• water
• shallow bowl
• ribbon
• apple seeds

Directions:

1. Trace a simple half apple shape with one straight edge on cardboard and cut out. This will be your template.
2. Put several sheets of  white paper together. Fold in half and staple the fold to make a book.
3. Place the template on your little book with the straight edge along the spine and trace with a pencil.
4. Cut out with scissors.
5. Mix red food coloring with water in a shallow bowl.
6. Close your book and tip the edges in the red water to dy them. Allow to dry.
7. Glue a short stick to the spine of your book, sticking up a little from the top. Prefereably one with a little gren leaf.
8. Fold some pges arount the stick and glue in place. Hold with a clothespin until dry.
9. Tie a little ribbon around the stem.
10. Glue or draw a couple of apple seeds on the inside of your book.
11. Display your paper apple.

Source: Craftberry Bush

Easy Paper Plate Apple Craft

This is an easy and fun apple craft you can make from a paper plate.

Materials:

• paper plate
• red paint and paintbrushes
• brown and green construction paper
• scissors
• apple seeds
• glue

Directions:

1. Paint the bottom of a paper plate all red and allow to dry.
2. Cut out a brown stem and 2 green leaves from construction paper and glue to the back of the plate.
3. Glue real apple seeds in the middle of the plate.

Variations:

1. Instead of paint, glue on scraps of red paper or tissue paper.
2. Cut a little dip at the top and bottom to make a more apple shape.
3. Paint the rim red and the middle yellow to make an apple cut in half.

Source: Crafts for Preschool Kids

Johnny Appleseed Apple Tree Craft

Here's a fun hand print apple tree craft in honor of that all American hero, Johnny Appleseed.

Materials:

• white paper
• green construction paper
• pencil
• scissors
• tree trunks cut from brown construction paper
• small red paper circles of apple cutouts if you have them
• pot hat cut outs
• glue

Directions:

1. Trace and cut out two pair of hand prints for each child from green construction paper.
2. Glue on trunk and hand prints on white paper to make your tree.
3. Glue on red circles or apples onto the tree.
4. Next to the tree, glue on Johnny Appleseed's pot hat.
5. Draw Johnny Appleseed to match the hat.
6. Color and add details like sun, clouds, birds etc.

Variations:

Orignally, this craft called for gluing on a blue paper background, but for this one, I wanted to encourage their creativity by drawing Johnny Appleseed into the picture, so I used white paper. Or, you could prepare a paper cutout of Johnny Appleseed from a coloring page and kids could color and then glue on. Also you don't have to let the tree hang off the edge of the paper as shown.

Easy Apple Tree Paper Craft

This is a simple and fun craft to learn about trees.

Materials:

• A sheet of construction paper for the background. Light blue or other colors, one for each child.
• Scraps of brown construction paper for the trunks and branches.
• Small leaf shapes cut from green construction paper.
• Red tempura paint
• Several two-liter pop bottle caps

Directions:

1. Paste a large strip of brown construction paper on the background to make the trunk. Crinkling the paper trunk beforehand gives a more wood-like surface.
2. Paste on smaller strips of brown construction paper to make the branches.
3. Paste on the small green leaves.
4. Pour the red paint into a shallow tray. Dip the flat side of the bottle cap and press onto the paper to make the apples. The apples will be thick and sticky. Allow to dry.

It takes time to dry, but the end effect is really nice. The craft is also good because you use recycled scraps. I used this craft for a lesson about trees, keeping in mind to be environmentally friendly.

This and hundreds of other simple and easy craft ideas are from the "Arts and Craft For All Seasons" series books for Preschool/Kindergarten and 1^st through 3^rd grade. The crafts are fun, simple, and easily adaptable. These books are a great resource and are a must have for any preschool-K or early elementary program.