Apple Week Activity: Apple Tree Counting & Sorting Game - Fun Home Education Idea

For our first Apple Week home education activity, we made our very own cardboard apple trees and turned our living room into an orchard! This hands-on game had our boys running, jumping, and laughing while secretly learning about numbers, colours, and teamwork.

🍏 What We Made

To set up the game, we created two cardboard apple trees. One tree even had a little door cut into the trunk for the kids to crawl inside and pretend to hibernate like woodland animals.

With Luca’s help, we used red and green ball pit balls as apples, fixing them onto the trees with paper tape. They looked bright and colourful, and most importantly, easy for little hands to grab!

Tape rolls to stick the balls the the tree

Door in the cardboard trunk

Green apple collecting

Collecting more apples

🍎 How We Played

Once the trees were ready, the boys got to work “picking” apples:

1. Stretching and jumping to grab the balls from the trees (our trees were probably a bit too big, but the boys did have fun getting the higher ones and felt quite accomplished).

2. Collecting and sorting apples by colour into baskets.

3. Counting how many red and green apples they had gathered.

The best part? They loved it so much that we had to restick the apples over and over again for multiple rounds.

🌱 Learning Benefits

This playful apple tree game is packed with learning opportunities:

• Gross motor skills – stretching, jumping, and balancing to collect apples.

• Sorting & categorising – organising red vs. green apples.

• Early maths – counting apples and comparing numbers.

• Imaginative play – hiding in the tree trunk and pretending to be animals.

• Family teamwork – building, playing, and laughing together.

🖍 Extension Ideas

Want to keep the fun going? Try:

• Adding yellow “golden” apples for a third category.

• Using the apples for a quick addition or subtraction game.

• Reading an apple-themed story (like Ten Red Apples by Pat Hutchins).

• Take the idea outside with real apples if you have a garden.

  
  

🍏 Final Thoughts

Our cardboard apple tree game was a huge hit with both kids. Simple materials, endless fun, and so many learning moments — it was the perfect way to start Apple Week in our homeschool.

If you’d like more apple-themed learning activities, check out:

• [7 Hungry Caterpillar Activities]

• [Apple Tasting and Cake Recipe with Kids]

Happy apple picking! 🍎