Each Thursday, I will be reposting our lessons from last year. If you want to follow along with us, we’d love to have you!
Considering purchasing the complete download of God’s Little Explorers? You can find out the top 10 differences between the weekly free preschool lesson plans and the complete download here.
Welcome! Here are this week’s lesson plans. You can find the printable plans at the bottom of the post. If you’d like to know more about God’s Little Explorers Preschool Curriculum, head over here.
God’s Little Explorers Week 3
- Theme: ”A” is for Apple
- Bible Story: Adam & Eve and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
- Bible Verse: For all have sinned… Romans 3:23
- Letter: A
- Shape: Circle
Here are a few activities we did:
We made these apple prints and used them for making patterns. I made a pattern and my daughter copied it. She made a pattern and I copied it!
Using apple prints from the first time we made them, I wrote the numbers 1-10 on them, hid them in our fake tree, and let the girls “pick” them…
and put them in a basket…
and put them in numerical order!
We picked a ton of apples at my aunt’s house!
I had more laminated apple prints from this activity, so I wrote the words for our memory verse on them. We drew a tree on our dry erase board and stuck the apples on the tree with tape. I helped the girls identify and “pick” which word came first, second, third, and so on in the memory verse.
We stuck them under the tree in order of the verse.
We read the story of Adam and Even in the garden and the first sin quite a few times during the week. Later, we talked about how Adam and Eve tried to hide from God. We discussed how we sometimes try to hide our sin from God (and parents!) and brainstormed a list of a few of those sins. Using invisible ink, I painted those words on paper — like we were trying to “hide” them. After drying thoroughly, I held the paper over a burner. Be VERY careful when you do this and be sure it is done by an adult!! Our list of sins reappeared, and we talked about how God sees everything. We can’t hide anything from Him…and we don’t need to. He loves us and sent His Son! Later, we read A Sad Day in the Big Picture Story Bible.
The girls added fingerprint apples to the letter a printable (found in the download below).
We also cut open several apples and counted the seeds we found in each one.
Finally, we added an apple to the treasure map to show we’ve learned about apples, Adam, and the letter a!
A few other activities:
- Handprint, Footprint, and Fingerprint Apple Tree Craft
- Easy Crockpot Applesauce
- Apple Balance Test
- Easy as Apple Pie Snack
Books and Other Resources:
- How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World (Dragonfly Books)
- Ten Apples Up On Top! by Dr. Seuss
- The Seasons of Arnold’s Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons
- The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall
- Hi Ho Cherry-O(just pretend they are apples!)
Download printable lesson plans for Letter A is for Apple.
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Lindsay says
Hi Stacie! I just wanted to say “thank you” for the wonderful preschool curriculum. I started using it with my 3-year-old a couple of weeks ago and we are having a blast. It is just what I was looking for this year and I am so thankful for all of your work that goes into it.
Tara H says
I know my boys will have fun with the apple week!
We just completed the G week. It was a busy week with strep throat and cat scratch fever (yes, really!) so we really just focused on the creation book. I blooged about it here…http://heathfamily7.wordpress.com/2012/09/14/our-creation-books/
Thanks so much for taking the time to share all the fun things you do. My children and I are having so much fun! I asked my 7 year old yesterday if he was liking school this year. His reply, “Not really, well, except for the creation book.” 🙂
Megan M says
Lesson 3: A is for Apples won’t open. I could open all the other ones, but it says something about needing to be repaired. I’m bummed; my children have loved the last few weeks. Can it be repaired or can someone send me the pdf to my email? Thanks.
Stacie says
Weird! I just tried and it seemed fine. I’ll send you the pdf, but check in your spam box, because my emails seem to go there when I send to yahoo users!
Sharon R says
When I download the lesson plan and then click on the Apple Tree Craft it takes me to a Ladies Home Journal ad. I can get to the craft from the listing by the picture, but not from the lesson plan itself. Just thought you’d want to correct it.
Stacie says
Thanks, Sharon! I’ll try to check that out soon!
Ally says
We have finished our letter A week! I blogged about it here:
http://teachinglittleonesathome.blogspot.com/2013/03/god-little-explorers-adam-and-eve-and.html
and linked back to this page.
Jenna says
This week was just perfect after the gardening week! We picked apples last week and used them this week for stamping and seed collecting! This was the favorite week so far!
http://casualhomeschool.blogspot.com/2013/08/preschoolpre-k-week-3.html
Tara says
Love the site, but every time I try to read or open the site, the video ads are so obtrusive, I cannot pause them or silence them. This is the only site I ever have trouble with, so I end up closing the whole thing. I have checked my setting over and over and even hitting pause on the videos, they continue to play and they are on every page. For this reason, I have stopped coming to this site, even though I love it. Its very disappointing.
Stacie Nelson says
Oh, dear! The video ads aren’t supposed to be audible unless you specifically push them to play. I will see what I can find out!
Stacie Nelson says
Hey, Tara,
Would you mind checking to see if a video is still popping up for you?
Gigi says
I used the apples to play “Red apple, Green apple, yellow apple” for exercise on the playground outside. have the child stand at a nearby tree. hold up the green for go (green=run), the red for stop (red=stop), and the yellow for slow (yellow=walk). have a finish line point. if more than one child, have them try to beat one another for a motivating little friendly competition to get them really moving and paying attention and listening. remember, they have to walk, run or stop when you hold up the corresponding apple. It’s fun!
Stacie Nelson says
Love this! Thanks for sharing!
Michelle says
How did you go about laminating your apples and other cutout shapes along the way?
Stacie Nelson says
Hi, Michelle,
I have a small 8.5 x 11in. laminator that I use for small projects like that. Every once in a while you can find a great deal on one!
Gayle says
I can’t get the apple tree craft to open. Can I get a pdf of that file?
Stacie Nelson says
You might try using a different PDF viewer like Adobe Acrobat if it isn’t opening in your system viewer.
Gabriela says
Hi trying to download lesson plan for A is for Adam and Eve, and it is taking me to the pdf form of Gods creation.
Stacie Nelson says
Hmm, it downloaded fine for me. Maybe you need to clear your cache and try again or try a different web browser.
Dawn R says
Hi Stacie! Do you have a Kindergarten packet by chance? I know this is pre k, and it’s wonderful so far! We are home schooling my 5 year old, please let me know what you use! I would love this curriculum you do to keep on going! Much love,
Dawn R
Also I did some of the pre k work about a year ago and I thought I bought it, but I have so many emails I can’t tell! lol! Ty!
Stacie Nelson says
Hi, Dawn,
I don’t currently have a kindergarten curriculum. I have had lots of inquiries so I’ve been thinking about it! If you want me to check to see if I can find your purchase, just send me an email at motherhoodonadime @ gmail . com and let me know the paypal email address you used, and I can look it up and resend it if you did purchase it. Thanks!