Autumn is by far my favorite season (apple trees! pumpkin spice! fall foliage!) and although Veronika is a bit young for it, there are so many apple crafts I want to make with her once her fingers become more dexterous and her understanding of the season increases.

But it’s never too early to throw in a cute craft about the changing seasons. So today was her first apple craft!

We cut green circles from construction paper for the leaves. Older toddlers can practice tracing around any round item to make these and can also practice with safety scissors to cut them out. Meanwhile Veronika loved pointing out to me that these were circles.

She then helped dot white glue onto the paper. Dotting glue is fantastic for strengthening little fingers!

We added a red bead to each dot of glue. Red sequins would work, too!

Of course, Veronika had just as much tendency to pull a red bead off the glue as to leave it on, but we managed to get a few finished trees.

For the trunks, use brown marker to color on spring-type clothespins.

Clip one on to each green circle once the glue dries.

This would be a fantastic activity to do either before or after a trip to a real apple orchard.