Apple Theme Math Activity

This apple theme math activity is perfect for building fine motor skills. It’s a creative way to get the kids learning and developing important skills with an apple theme! This activity was a quick one to set up and one that brought on a few “Wows!” It quickly became a favorite new way to learn and develop math skills.

Apple Theme Math Activity

You’ll need just a few materials to create this apple tree:

Red tissue paper, cut into long strips
Green card stock paper
Black marker
Cardboard
Glue
Scissors

First, cut a tree shape from the green card stock. I cut a bumpy cloud shape that became the leaves of our apple tree. Use a sharp knife to cut slits in the leaves. Place the card stock on a cutting board and use the knife to cut horizontal slits in the paper. This is a job for an adult!

Next, use scissors to cut the slits into small rectangles. You’ll want the slits to be big enough for tissue paper to slide through. Push one end of the tissue paper through the slits in the apple tree. Gently crumble the end sticking through the card stock. These are the “apples” on the apple tree.

Use the marker to write numbers under the apples. For our apple tree, I wrote 5’s and 10’s. You could write 100’s and single or double digit numbers if you would like to work on adding or subtracting those numbers.

To do this apple theme math activity, I had my kids pull apples from the tree. I showed them how to tear the crumbled tissue paper and to notice the number under the apple. They then had to add the total as they pulled more and more apples from the tree.

Fine Motor Apple Activity

Tearing the tissue paper from the apple tree is a great way to work on fine motor skills. Tearing paper is an excellent way to strengthen the hand, specifically, the intrinsic muscles of the hands. These are the muscles within the hands that allow us to manipulate small items and perform coordinated fine motor tasks.

Developed intrinsic muscles are essential for defined arches of the hands which allow the palm to conform to the shape of objects in order to hold and manipulate things in our hands.