Fall Colour Apple Stamping – a great way for preschoolers to explore fall colours with a classic stamping activity.
My toddlers and preschoolers LOVE stamping with apples, so they really enjoyed this process. The results were beautiful, and it was a great way to use up a couple of apples that were past their best in our fruit basket.
We’ve been exploring fall colours with fun and engaging fall crafts and art projects this month (see our fall leaf collages and painted fall leaves), and we’ve been making lots of apple crafts.
Today, I thought it would be fun to combine both by making fall coloured prints with apples.
More Stamping Activities for Kids:
- Nature Art Stamping Activity for Preschoolers
- Stamping Hearts with Cardboard Rolls
- Cork-Stamped Flower Craft with Corks and Buttons
- 6 Ways to Make Homemade Stamps for Kids
I started by cutting some apples both top to bottom, and side to side. The hooligans love when I cut an apple cross-wise to reveal the star pattern that the seeds make.
We talked about fall colours and the kids helped me decide which colours of paint we should used for our our project. They decided on orange, red, yellow and brown, so I poured those colours into some styrofoam produce trays.
To make our apple prints, we used:
- apples
- acrylic craft paint
- styrofoam trays
- white cardboard
- paper bags
- forks
Then we took everything outside, and I laid out some brown paper bags that I’d cut open, and some white cardboard.
We stuck forks down into the apples to make them easy for little hands to manage, and we got stamping.
The hooligans had a great time with it, and I must admit – so did I!
I learned that twisting the apples made a really pretty effect. That wasn’t so easy for the little ones to do, so they more or less just stamped and rubbed their paint over their paper.
What do you think? I’m amazed by how much the circles and swirls look like real apples!
Edited to add: Check out how we used our apple stamped backgrounds to make a new piece of apple art the following day.
More fall crafts for toddlers and preschoolers:
- 10 Easy Apple Crafts for Kids
- Fall Leaf Crafts and Activities for Kids 2-10
- Easy Fall Crafts for Kids to Make at Home or Preschool
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Jackie is a mom, wife, home daycare provider, and the creative spirit behind Happy Hooligans. She specializes in kids’ crafts and activities, easy recipes, and parenting. She began blogging in 2011, and today, Happy Hooligans inspires more than 2 million parents, caregivers and Early Years Professionals all over the globe.
Erin
My Grandma used to do this activity with us but with potatoes! Love it 🙂
chickymara
That looks fun. We used to do that when I was a kid. Maybe I’ll try it with my nephews.
Megan Sheakoski
I love the colors you used! The kids look so engaged that you know they were having fun! I am sharing next week on my After School post!
Tara from The Magnolia Barn
So pretty! I love the way they turned out.
Kelly at Little Wonders' Days
The paintings looks abstract, so neat! I featured your post at the After School Party. Thanks for sharing.
pauline@lessonslearntjournal.com
Would you believe it… I still haven’t done this with my kids yet. (Why?!) Thanks for linking this up to the Kids Co-Op. I’ll be featuring your post in my painting ideas for kids roundup this week. xo P
Sugar Aunts
Love this! We’re featuring your post on Share It Saturday this week over at Sugar Aunts! Thanks for linking up 🙂
Olga
Great idea with forks as holders!
Here is the link for our apple stamps: http://stranamasterov.ru/node/658328
Alison
I really like how you limited the color palette. I’ve been wanting to limit color choices so the kids can better explore the qualities of one or two colors. This is perfect and really gives a great autumn feeling. Definitely going to try this one!
lovemykids4
What a wonderful idea! We are going to change it up a bit and use a canvas board. We are going to paint it all brown and the sides, then do rustic color apple swirls in red, orange, and yellow. This will be the fall wall art in our dining area. Can’t wait to get started with my 5 year old!
happyhooligans
Lovely! It will be so nice to have a custom piece of art made by your child hanging on your wall!