Read the story of Johnny Appleseed, then allow children to make their own fingerprint apple trees. Use brown paint for the trunk, green for the leaves, and red for the apples. Children can use different fingers for different colors. For less mess, have the trunk already painted on or give the children brown rectangles to glue on the paper.
Having children cut and glue apple shapes can be a way to involve children in classroom decoration and a means of teaching scissor skills all in one. First, make outlines of apple shapes on paper. Then cut out strips of red paper. Give the strips to the children and have them cut them into pieces. Allow the children to glue the pieces of red paper onto the apple shape. When the glue is dry, cut out the apples along the outline. Hang the apples up on walls or windows.
Encourage children to make an "Apple Man" out of a whole piece of fruit. Provide each child with an apple, along with 2 whole cloves to poke into the apples to make eyes. Provide 5-7 more cloves to make mouths. Some children will need assistance poking the clove through the apple skin. For the Apple Man's arms and legs, cut drinking straws into 1 inch pieces, giving each child 4 pieces. Poke these into the apple.
Cut apples in half from top to bottom. Give each child an apple half. Provide paint to dip the apples into. Allow each child to dip his apple in the paint and stamp it on a sheet of paper. An alternative is to place a long strip of rolled paper, or the back of a roll of wrapping paper, across the table or floor for stamping. Allow the children to be creative and make abstract designs or use the stamps to make the "leaves" on an apple tree drawing.