Ask the pre-kindergarten children to hold up their apples so the others can see them. Discuss the variation of colors and size, and ask if they know where apples come from. They may answer that they come from the store. Ask if the store makes them. Where does the store get the apples? Guide the discussion until the children learn they grow on trees. Show them the picture of an apple tree.
Cut open an apple. Show the children what is inside and ask if they know what the small black things are in the middle of the apple. Discuss the seeds and explain that apple trees grow from a seed put into the ground. Let the children feel the seeds.
Hold up a picture of a very young apple tree. Explain that after the seed goes into the ground, water makes it start to grow. After it pops up out of the ground, the sun's light will also help it grow. Show the other pictures of the growing apple tree, concluding with a picture of a tree in bloom. Show the children the tree branch with flowers, if possible. Pass it around for them to feel and smell. Explain that an apple will grow where the flowers are.
Show the stem and leaves, and explain that the apple hangs onto the branch of the tree by the stem. Show the picture of an apple hanging on a branch.
Review the process of an apple tree's growth. Have children pretend to plant the seeds and then hold up their fingers and wiggle them like rain. Tell them to hold up their arms and hold their hands, making a circle for the sun. They should squat on the floor and hold their apple in one hand. Tell them to slowly stand up like a growing tree. When they are fully standing, they should hold out their arms like branches and hold their apple as though it is growing on their branch.
Walk around the children and, one at a time, "pick" their apple. Give it to an assistant who will cut each child's apple with an apple cutter and seat the child for a snack break. When all the apples have been picked, talk with the children about their apples and ask how it tastes and what color it is.
Travel to a pick-your-own apple orchard, if there is one nearby. Show children trees at different stages of growth, workers picking apples, cold storage, sorting and making apple cider. Before going home, let them each pick their own apple off a tree.