Fall has arrived, which means it’s time to break out all the apple books for preschoolers! Whether your weekends are full of apple picking or you’re longing for the temperature to drop just a little bit, these apple books will get you into the autumn spirit!
Apple books for preschoolers are perfect for autumn
There’s no doubt about it. When the temperature starts to cool, leaves change colors, and kids are settled back to school, something magical happens. Apples, apples, everywhere!
Kids are going apple picking in many parts of the country. Hot apple cider is offered as a sweet treat. Apple pies, cakes, and strudels become staples on the dessert table.
It also means that apple books for preschoolers are getting pulled off shelves and out of cabinets around the country!
Apple books in the classroom
When the Fall season rolls around, your preschoolers will almost certainly learn about apples! Apples lend themselves to so many great lessons for preschoolers and are used in the classroom in a variety of ways. Apple unit studies frequently include literacy and math activities, art projects, and farming and growing activities. They can be used to teach colors, healthy eating, and even the Jewish holidays, as children celebrating Rosh Hashana (the Jewish New Year) eat apples dipped in honey to symbolize a sweet new year. The possibilities with apple-themed activities are endless for preschoolers!
Our favorite apple books for preschoolers
It’s hard to pick just one awesome apple book, so I’ll go with one fictional apple book for preschoolers and one non-fiction option.
As for fiction, you can’t go wrong with Candice Ransome’s Apple Picking Day. It’s a sweet story of a brother and sister going apple picking, and it’s told in pitch-perfect rhyme that makes reading aloud smooth and easy. I also love its themes of sharing and friendship!
My all-time favorite non-fiction selection is Secrets of the Apple Tree, by Carron Brown and Alyssa Nassner. This is the coolest series, and this particular book imparts many facts about apple trees (though you may need to self-edit and summarize for your youngest kids). By holding a flashlight behind each page, readers can see the “secrets” revealed within the apple tree. This apple book turns read-alouds into great interactive fun, especially if you can share it with little ones in a dim room with an apple-scented candle lit, too!
Both of these books are featured on the list below.
Frequently asked questions
So much! Aside from learning about the different parts of an apple and how apples grow, apples can be used for and incorporated into a variety of lessons for preschoolers, from color identification to shape recognition to sorting and sizing. They can even be used to teach children about healthy eating habits, life cycles, and the harvest.
Any book with bright pictures or photographs with simple text is sure to work for preschoolers. Remember that even if a book features a lot of words and feels a bit too lenghty for our youngest readers, you can easily summarize each page and self-edit the text as you read.
There’s no debating this one. If you want to “wow” kids and leave them captivated at story time, Secrets of the Apple Tree is a winner. Dim the lights, grab a flashlight, and shine the light behind the pages to reveal “secrets” about the apple tree. Your kids will be mesmerized and you will love the joy you see on their little faces!
Our big list of apple books for preschoolers
It’s a beautiful fall day, and Minna and her family are going to Long Hill Orchard for some apple-picking fun! The bunnies fill their baskets with apples for pie and juice, and Farmer Miller teaches them all about apples along the way. This is a great story that combines fun with facts!
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I absolutely love the Hello, World! nonfiction series, and this apple book for preschoolers is another gem perfect for sharing with small groups. With simple text, beautiful illustrations, and fun facts (did you know there are more than 7,000 types of apples?) our youngest readers will delight in learning from this book.
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It’s fall, and since the leaves are now red and green, one young girl is going on an adventure. Join the child and her family on Comstock Farm as they spend the day picking apples — and searching for a perfect pumpkin! This is such a lovely fall book for preschoolers!
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We love this sweet story of a brother and sister going apple-picking at the orchard one fall day. In addition to the fact that it is told in pitch-perfect rhyme that makes reading aloud smooth and easy, it also has wonderful themes of sharing, collaboration, and friendship! We also love seeing books with diverse characters. This is a winner of an apple book for preschoolers! Fun tip – this is also a wonderful book for new readers. If your preschooler has an older sibling that is beginning to read, have your oldest read this story to your youngest!
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This simple counting book is perfect to teach kids how to count to five, all while lifting flaps and taking a guess at why the apples are disappearing. Preschoolers are also encouraged to take a guess at which animals may be eating the apples. This one is perfect for your youngest readers!
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We love interactive books, and this one is a total winner! Sweet Bunny needs some help picking apples for Mama’s pie. Can you use the red string attached to the book to help Bunny? One of our cherished apple books for preschoolers, this story invites young readers to shake, flip, and rock the book to and fro, all in an effort to help Bunny pick that sweet fruit from the tree.
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My students can’t get enough of the Shine-A-Light books. After all, what’s better than reading with a flashlight and finding hidden discoveries on every page? Here, you can hold a light underneath pages to see, among other things, all the creatures that make an apple tree their home. Your kids will be enthralled, engaged, and totally mesmerized. This series is fantastic!
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In this simple yet beautiful gratitude book for kids, a young girl says thank you for all of the gifts nature provides. From hedges to trees, flowers to bees, the child explores nature’s wonder and the way it comes together to provide ingredients for the delicious food we eat. Rhythmic prose and delightful illustrations make this a winner, especially for young children.
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Mouse can’t wait to eat the four juicy apples she found in the woods. But along comes Bear, and Bear is not feeling kind. In fact, he’s feeling rather greedy, and he wants Mouse’s apples! Can Mouse outsmart Bear? Or can Bear learn to share?
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This is a delightful apple book for preschoolers that allows kids to follow along as a seed grows into a sprout and then a tree. Kids will delight in following along with Pip’s journey and learning that every seed within an apple’s core can grow and grow under the right circumstances.
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Did you know that apples grow from buds to flowers to fruit? This book is on the more factual side, and it makes a wonderful science supplement if you want to give older preschoolers some interesting facts, including a bee’s role in the life cycle and the tree’s role in feeding growing apples.
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We love alphabet books and this one, about a little puppy trying everything he can to get his paws on a hot apple pie, is so just adorable. The pup watches as the pie is baked and then cooled, and later on he is miserable as he pines for it and ogles it. Clever, silly, and oh-so-much-fun, this is an apple book for preschoolers you don’t want to miss!
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Happy reading!
RELATED: We’ve got the best kindergarten read-alouds for you on Happily Ever Elephants, so be sure to check out these great picture books!
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