Preschool Storytime: Apples

Yum! Apples are an easy theme – most kids like them, and there’s a wealth of storytime material to choose from when planning. I’d noticed in my last few storytimes that I’ve been cramming more and more content in, and my videos were getting longer and longer. Starting with this week, I tried to cut back. It’s against my nature, but I’m doing better!

You can find other versions of this theme from 2022 and 2025.

You can see the virtual program that does not include the full books read aloud here.

Early Literacy Tip: As you and your child go about your day, highlight the five senses and talk about the textures, the size, color, sounds, smells, and tastes of the things around you. These observations will be the basis for later exploration and classifying that will lead to sorting and problem solving skills. These are skills that will help your child later understand what they read.

Welcome Song: We Clap and Sing Hello

Fingerplay: A Little Apple Seed
(tune of Itsy Bitsy Spider)
Once a little apple seed was planted in the ground
Down came the rain drops falling all around
Out came the big sun bright as bright could be
And the little apple seed grew up to be an apple tree
Credit: Madelyn’s Library Programming

Read: Apples Here! by Will Hubbell
This is a really great book that goes through the seasons of an apple tree and shows that apples are “in” the buds, flowers, and more. It shows diverse kids enjoying the orchard and cooking, eating applesauce with latkes and finding them in the toes of Christmas stockings. Simple and short text makes it perfect for storytime.

Rhyme: Way Up High in the Apple Tree
Way up high in the apple tree (stretch arms up high)
Two red apples smiled at me (hold up two fists)
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 tummy)
Credit: traditional

Rhyme: Eat an Apple
Eat an apple (bring hand to mouth)
Save the core (close hand in fist)
Plant some seeds (bend down to touch hand to ground)
And grow some more! (extend both arms out)
Credit: preschooleducation.com

Word Exercise: Using Our Five Senses
What words can we use to describe apples using our senses? This definitely would work better in-person, but I made it work for virtual. I borrowed this activity from Literary Hoots

Read: Apple Pie ABC by Alison Murray

Action Song: The Pie Song
(tune of The Farmer in the Dell)
This is the way we slice the apple, (act out each step)
Slice the apple, slice the apple,
This is the way we slice the apple to make a yummy pie.

Additional verses:
Pour the flour… Roll the dough… Stir the filling…
Sprinkle spices… Bake our pie… Eat a slice…
Credit: adapted from “Thanksgiving Pie Song” at Storytime Hooligans

People like to eat apples, but so do animals! I decided to do a twist ending on this one, with 4 tiny finger puppet animals (mouse, rabbit, duck, and deer) and then a full size alligator! Silliness. 🙂 I made the flip side of the apples with different amounts eaten and with counted up seeds, but ended up not flipping them for this rhyme.
Flannel Rhyme: Five Little Apples
Five little apples up in a tree
The farmer wasn’t looking,
So guess who came to eat?
A mouse! Munch munch munch!
(count down, using available animal finger puppets, or choose animals you like to “munch” on your five fingers as the apples)
Credit: Storytime Katie

Read: Tap the Magic Tree by Christie Matheson

Ukulele Song: Apples and Bananas
(begin with the correct pronunciation, then change the vowel sounds for each verse to a, e, i, o, and u)
I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas
I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas

I like to ate, ate, ate ayples and ba-nay-nays
I like to ate, ate, ate ayples and ba-nay-nays

I like to eet, eet, eet eeples and ba-nee-nees
I like to eet, eet, eet eeples and ba-nee-nees

I like to ite, ite, ite iples and ba-ni-nis
I like to ite, ite, ite iples and ba-ni-nis

I like to ote, ote, ote oples and ba-no-nos
I like to ote, ote, ote oples and ba-no-nos

I like to ute, ute, ute uples and ba-nu-nus
I like to ute, ute, ute uples and ba-nu-nus
Credit: Raffi, from the album One Light, One Sun

Download a ukulele songsheet for Apples and Bananas

Craft: Apple Pie
Cut an apple in half. Eat one half and use the other for this craft! Spread the paint on one plate and let your child dip the cut apple half in paint, then “stamp” a second paper plate in the middle. They can make as many stamps as they wish! Help your child spread brown paint around the rim of the plate. For an additional sensory element, let your child sprinkle a little cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice on the wet paint. (My example pie looked a little sad – I didn’t have an apple handy so cut a foam sheet in an apple shape and it didn’t stamp as well as I’d hoped!) Credit: Literary Hoots

I also booktalked these alternative titles during the permanent YouTube video.
Secrets of the Apple Tree by Carron Brown & Alyssa Nassner
Ten Red Apples by Pat Hutchins
Apples, Apples! by Salina Yoon

Closing Rhyme: Tickle the Stars

This storytime was presented virtually on 10/20/20.

Storytime Handout: