Pumpkins and Apples!

The Plan

Books

Apples and Pumpkins by Anne Rockwell
Apple Farmer Annie by Monica Wellington
Ducking for Apples by Lynne Berry
It’s Pumpkin Time by Zoe Hall
Piggies in the Pumpkin Patch by Mary Peterson and Jennifer Rofe

Extension Activities

Action Rhyme: “Apple Roll”
Five little apples in the bowl
One fell out and started to roll
It bumped the table and hit my feet
How many apples left to eat?
(Count down)
Credit: Best Kids Book Site

Action Rhyme: “Pumpkin, Pumpkin”
Pumpkin, pumpkin on the ground (touch the ground)
How’d you get so big and round? (make a circle)
Once you were a seed so small (pinch fingers together)
Now you are a great big ball! (make a big circle)
Pumpkin, pumpkin on the ground (touch the ground)
How’d you get so big and round? (make a circle)
Credit: Step by Step — Pumpkin Theme

Fingerplay: “Way Up High In the Apple Tree”
Way up high in the apple tree (stretch arms up high)
I saw two apples looking at me (hold up two fingers)
I shook that tree as hard as I could (make a shaking motion)
Down came the apples… (make a downward motion)
And mmm, they were good! (smile and rub stomach)
Credit: Childhood

Flannelboard: “Five Little Apples”
Five little apples hung in a tree
The farmer wasn’t looking
Guess who came to eat?
A rabbit! Munch, munch, munch!
(Other animals: A mouse, a crow, a turtle, a bat.)
Credit: Storytime Secrets

Flannelboard: “Five Little Pumpkins”

Craft

Another kit from Oriental Trading. This one was not self-stick, so I had the kids use Glue Dots to attach the pieces to the plate.

How It Went

Thursday morning
Again, my showstopper was my flannelboard/puppet show. I used puppets to “munch” the apples and flipped them around. Other than that, I think that the most enjoyed book for this group was “Apples and Pumpkins.” A lot of the kids had gone to an apple orchard with their families this year, so this book echoed that experience.

Friday morning
This group really got into “Piggies in the Pumpkin Patch” — mostly because I oinked a lot and they think that’s pretty funny. They also really enjoyed the flannelboard activity and getting pats and kisses from the puppets at the end of storytime.