Apple STEM Activities for Back to School

I don’t know if there’s much that’s symbolic of fall and back to school time like apples, so let’s play with our food and do some learning while we’re at it with these apple STEM and STEAM activities.

Why not make an apple bird feeder and keep a log of the different kinds of birds and other animals you see using it? Messy Little Monster has this simple DIY.

Since apples are alive they can decay, so you can use them to learn about mold (on a smaller scale than the classic decaying pumpkin experiment). Share It Science has a post about a kid’s book you can read about observing mold and decay, plus all the details for setting up your own kid-led experiment to see what happens when apple slices are left to rot and how well different preservatives help them stay fresh.

On the other end of the spectrum you can dry apples, which is another means of preserving them. Adventure in a Box has all the details for turning apple drying into a science experiment for kids that you can eat when it’s done!

While you’re slicing apples, make some apple boats with this idea from A Dab of Glue Will Do. Let the kids decorate their sails (and/or make them different shapes, sizes and materials) and have them use the worksheet in the post to hypothesize whether their boats will float and why.

Kid Minds has a fun experiment using an apple where you investigate the center of gravity by balancing an apple off the edge of a table. Head to the post to see how and why this one works (and definitely consider doing the stabbing of the apple yourself instead of having a kid do it).

And then of course there’s the classic apple volcano experiment, speaking of things done on a smaller scale than using a pumpkin. Homeschool Preschool has all the details on this fun project that kids of all ages enjoy.

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St. Patrick's Day STEM Project Ideas

Bring on the fall leaves, pumpkins and apples as we help little ones learn to recognize letters and get ready for reading with these fall literacy activities.

Practice letter recognition by feeding the scarecrow straw with the letters of the alphabet with this printable activity from ABCs of Literacy. It includes both uppercase and lowercase letters so you can practice with either or match them as you “feed” the scarecrow.

Match the letters on fall leaves with the letters on the worksheet to play leafy letter match from The Kindergarten Connection. Kids can color in the leaves they find or cover them with dot markers.

Or do the same thing with this free pumpkin color the alphabet activity using lowercase letters. It’s from The Kinder Life on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Work on sight word recognition with this pumpkin sight words printable activity from The Connet Connection on Teachers Pay Teachers. This free download lets kids practice their sight words while they hunt for a black cat.

Help kids learn to spell their names with this apple printable activity from Books and Giggles. Kids can find each of the letters in their name on apples, put them together to spell their name, then count the number of letters in their name.

Twisty Noodle has a fall words printable coloring page where kids can trace the letters for fall words: acorn, leaf, apple and pumpkin.

Little printable books are so fun for early readers to read and color. I See Fall is a free printable book from Fun a Day that includes six fall items: acorns, sunflowers, pumpkins, leaves, scarecrows and apples. You have the option of printing it will all the words on each page (I see pumpkins, for example) or with the word see missing so kids can practice writing it in on their own.

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