A wonderful way for children to learn about the world around them is through hands-on play. This lovely DIY felt apple life cycle craft, is an easy hands-on activity to help a child learn about the parts of an apple and it's life cycle.
Materials Needed:
- 2 red, 2 white, 1 brown, 1 green, 1 pink thick wool/rayon felt (9in x 12in sheets)
- scissors
- pencil or pen
- crayons for coloring the control card (optional)
- free apple printable for tracing onto the felt - located at the bottom of this post
*I recommend using the thick wool/rayon felt because it is easier to handle and cut versus the flimsy felt pieces. Here is an example from Michael's online - Wool Felt Sheet.
Instructions for the Printable File
There is a hand drawn apple printable (located at the bottom of the post) for you to cut out and then trace onto the felt. The downloadable file contains six sheets for printing. The first sheet is the terms of use. The second sheet is an apple coloring page and also a control chart for building the parts of the felt apple. The third and fourth sheets contain 9 parts of the apple: exocarp (red skin), mesocarp (white inside part), endocarp (inner part around the seeds), 4 seeds, stem connected to the calyx (bottom part of the apple), and leaf.
A wonderful set of matching, Parts of the Fruit Nomenclature Cards, can be found at "The Helpful Garden" blog. The fifth and sixth sheets of the printable file contain the outline for the life-cycle of the apple tree: the seedling, the tree, 9 buds, flowers, apples, and the tree top. Please see the images below for a guide.
Parts of an Apple
- exocarp (red skin)
- mesocarp (white inside part)
- endocarp (inner part around the seeds)
- seeds
- stem connected to the calyx (bottom part of the apple)
- leaf
Apple Tree Life-Cycle
- seed (see the apple above)
- seedling
- tree
- buds
- flowers
- fruit
These lovely apple life cycle nomenclature cards are a wonderful extension to this apple felt set. Another beautiful apple life-cycle chart can be found at "The Helpful Garden" blog. 
Little Bee enjoyed counting ten apples as he placed them onto the apple tree. He is 2.5 years old and is not quite ready to use this apple felt set to its entirety. The apple parts and life cycle activity is perfect for the preschool aged child, while the simple counting activities are great for the younger child. 
This can be a good excuse to teach your children about the production
process of fruits and vegetables and incorporate them into their diet!
Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoy hours of fun with this felt apple set! Here is the free downloadable printable. Enjoy!
Felt Apple Life Cycle Printable
Follow Mama's Happy Hive's board Life Cycles Unit Study on Pinterest.
You may also enjoy visiting, Autumn Sensory Play and Montessori Fall Fun - Scrub the Pumpkin.
What a fabulous idea to use felt! The activities here look absolutely fabulous and so inviting!
Thank you Renae! This apple felt activity was lots of fun to put together!
What a cute and educational felt set! I love that there’s something in it even for younger kids.
Thanks Tina 🙂 I hope you are able to use this felt set in your home.
Great minds think alike 🙂 I did the felt apple parts with Bells and it was great!!! I love how you added the tree with apples.
Thank you! 🙂
So cute! Will salvage some of my felt scraps and make a good apple felt activity. Thanks for sharing!