Provide rolling pins, ready-made shortcrust pastry and a small pie dish for each child. Show children how to roll out pastry to line the base and sides of their dish. Peel, core and slice one apple for each child and let children arrange apple slices on top of their pastry base. Place 3 tbsp. of apricot jam in a pan and warm gently for about a minute. Add a few drops of lemon juice, and let the mixture cool to a safe temperature. Let children brush apples with the cooled mixture and then sprinkle Demerara sugar over the moistened apples. Bake the tarts for about 15 to 20 minutes at 200 degrees.
Sing the following song to the tune of "Ten Green Bottles": "Ten green apples, juicy and round; ten green apples, juicy and round; and if one green apple should fall down to the ground, there'll be nine green apples, juicy and round." Tell children that five apples fell from the tree, and let children count five real apples into a basket. Use an animal hand puppet, such as a fox puppet, to "steal" apples from the basket and hide them from view, while children close their eyes. Invite children to try to work out how many apples are missing from the basket. Repeat the game by using different amounts and a variety of number stories.
Show children different varieties of apples and name the colors that appear on each apple, for example, red and green. Taste varieties of apples at snack time, and display one apple from each variety near the painting area. Provide painting paper that is cut into apple shapes, and let children finger paint onto the paper in colors that represent their favorite apple. Display the children's art work on a large tree trunk shape on the classroom wall.
Provide tubs of Play-Doh in three different colors: green, red and yellow. The Preschool Kids website recommends adding cinnamon spice to the dough, and using pipe cleaners to represent little worms. Show children how to roll Play-Doh into balls that resemble apples. Provide a tray of small twigs and leaves for children to decorate their "apples."