First, welcome to our Preschool/Kindergarten fruit and vegetable series.  We all have picky eaters.  But, just because they’re picky eaters doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be familiar with various fruit and vegetables.  As a result, I have created a series of printables that will help young children have fun with fruit and vegetables.  They may not want to eat them, but we can help them see what they look like, how they grow, and how they are used.

Our plan is to start with the letter A and work our way to the letter Z.  Can we find a fruit or vegetable that starts with a Z?  Stay tuned.

Second, our activities are designed to familiarize children with a fruit or vegetable that starts with each letter of the alphabet.  Additionally, the printables will help them with cutting skills, writing each letter of the word and than working their way to writing the actual word.  For example, this week’s word is Apple.

You will want to find magazines that have pictures of fruits and vegetables.  I requested catalogues from various on-line seed sites.  They are wonderful for this activity, and they are free.  If you have other magazines that you can use, that’s fine.

For this project, you will need to request seed catalogues.  In particular, I requested catalogues from Henry Field’s Seed and Nursery as well as a Baker Creek catalogue.  Another great catalogue is Seed Savers.  Each has great pictures and a nice variety of pictures.  Children will see that apples are not only red, but yellow, green and a mixture of reds.

These projects teach children that farmers grow apples in orchards.  But they are also grown in backyards.  Talk about how apples can be used.  For example, apple pie, apple sauce, apple cobbler, apple slices and apple juice to name a few.  Additionally animals love apples too.  Horses, pigs, rabbits, chimps, and birds love apples.  Be creative, and come up with interesting facts to share with the children.   Apples can be dipped in peanut butter, caramel and used for candied apples too.  Try serving a snack using apples.

Give each child a catalogue and a pair of safety scissors.  Have them search the catalogues for apples. Once they find pictures, have them cut out up to 4 pictures of apples if possible.  Their choice of course, and they don’t have to be cut out perfectly.

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Print the template below.  Then have the child paste their cutouts in the squares below.

Next, use our letter A activities to enhance your child’s writing skills.  Have your child practice writing the word. We have created a sheet that encourages them to trace  the letters in the word individually.  Once they get a good grip on each letter, have them trace the word.  Next, use the lined paper and have your child practice writing the word with tracing.

Finally, I hope that you find the letter A activities useful.  Most importantly, I hope your child enjoys the letter A activities too.  Remember, practice makes perfect.  The more they practice their writing skills, the better they will become.  You can download the activities here.  You may also like Fall Kindergarten Activities.