Handprint Apple Craft

Here's a simple apple craft I made with the kids recently.

They painted a small paper plate by dipping a pom pom into red paint and dabbing their plate.

I painted their palm and fingers green (for a leaf) and their thumb brown (for a stem) and made a print.

I cut out the handprint when it was dry and glued it to the top of the plate.That's it!

Easy and cute!

Apple Tree Class Display

Yay! Another class display! I love these things and I hope you enjoy them, too, even if you don't have a class. I started by hanging up some big white paper. I squirted green paint into the kids' hands (one child at a time), they rubbed their hands together and then made a bunch of prints on the paper.

I did use a pencil to lightly draw a tree shape just as a guideline for the kids. But it was also to prevent them from getting their hand prints on the wall, which didn't work completely as you can tell by those two hand prints way up top, which left little fingertip prints on the wall! When all the kids were done, I made a few prints myself to fill in any big gaps. Then I traced over the pencil lines with a green marker and painted a trunk.

When the paint was dry, I cut out the tree. Then it was time to add the apples. I took pictures of the kids, printed them out in black and white and taped them to apples I had cut from card stock. I added a stem and laminated them, then I taped them to the tree. I hung it in the hall with the words, "The Apples of my Eye."

The reason I printed the pictures in black and white was because my colored ink wasn't working so well. But I really like the black and white against the red of the apple!

Cute, right? And so easy to make!

Caramel Apple Craft

Happy Autumnal Equinox! Finally! I have a very simple craft to share with you that involves a yummy fall treat. Except this one isn't edible -- sorry! I cut out some apple shapes and mixed brown, white and yellow paint to make a caramel-y color. It didn't look too real, but it was good enough. I also added some glue to the paint. You'll find out why in a bit. The kids painted their apples upside down.

When you eat a caramel apple, you actually eat it upside down because the stick gets inserted into the top of the apple. I told them to leave a little bit of their apple showing at the bottom (which is really the top) so it would look like the apple was dipped into the caramel. And just for fun, we added sprinkles. I brought in Halloween sprinkles because I have two big containers of them for some reason.

So while the paint was still wet, the kids shook on some sprinkles. That's why I added the glue to the paint. The sprinkles may have stuck to just wet paint, but I wasn't sure if they would stick after the paint dried.

When they were dry, I taped jumbo craft sticks to the back.

And there you have it -- caramel apples! Even though I am in my late 30's, I still enjoy this treat and make it every fall!

Wormy Apples

Before I show you today's project, I want to say thank you to all of you who commented about the news I shared in my last post. You all seem to be just as excited as I am! Your well-wishes and support mean a lot to me!

Now, on with the craft:

I drew a bunch of apples using a template. Then I tore up red and green construction paper into small pieces.

You could have the kids tear the paper, as well. I was just trying to save some time. The kids glued the torn pieces of paper onto their apple using a glue stick.

I let them dry for a few minutes, then cut them out. I cut a thin strip of brown paper, and then cut it up into several pieces to make stems. The kids glued the stem to the back of the apple. Then they used a small piece of a pipe cleaner and formed it into a worm. In other words, wiggly! I used a scissors to punch a small hole in their apple, put the pipe cleaner through it, and taped it to the back.

And that's how we made our wormy apples!

I love how the worms are sticking out!

I think teeny tiny wiggle eyes glued onto the pipe cleaner would be so cute!

**Linking up to the parties on my sidebar!**

Apple Prints

So this didn't really turn out as I hoped. I've seen beautiful apple prints on other blogs, but it never seems to work for me. I had 3 apples and cut them up 3 different ways. One was the long way (with some wedges removed to make handles), one was horizontal across the middle (so you see a star), and the last one was horizontal with some chunks taken out so it looked like a flower or pinwheel. I put the apple halves in paint.

I decided to try this myself before the kids got to the table.

Not bad, but not like what I've seen online. Then I tried the flower-shaped apples.

Way cool! (Got that idea from here.) You still can't really see the star in the middle, but I like it! I'm going to have to remember this next spring.
The kids still had a blast doing it, and that's all that matters.

I was the only one disappointed with the results.

Maybe I'm not cutting the apples straight or using too much paint or not enough. I don't know. What I do know is that from now on I'm cutting designs in the apples. Those prints turn out much better. Anyone else have problems with this one?

Stained Glass Apples

Yesterday we discussed the letter A. To go along with that, we did an apple craft. I traced an apple template with red and green markers.

Then I set out watered-down glue with paint brushes and red and green tissue squares.

(Know what I love about my new center? We don't use styrofoam cups and plates and bowls! Wahoooo!)
The kids painted the glue onto the entire apple...

...and put the tissue paper on top.

They kept adding tissue paper until the apple was all filled up.

Then to make it shine, they painted the glue on again (very gently), right on top of the tissue paper.

See how pretty they look?

Once dry, I cut them out and we added a little stem. I hung them in the window to catch the sunlight!

Man, it's really hard to capture the beauty!