Is there anything better than when the leaves start to change color, the excitement of a new season of learning fills the air, and the trees are covered in red, green, and yellow treasures? I don’t think so, and no childhood fall feels complete without some apple-themed learning! If you agree and plan to enjoy some apple-themed reading with your preschooler, check out these 12 favorites.
The Ultimate List of Apple Books for Preschoolers
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1. We Harvest Apples in Fall by Rebecca Felix
Unique Feature: Text features for young readers
Best for Ages: 2+
We Harvest Apples in Fall is a nonfiction book appropriate for preschoolers to teach them about orchards, the apple life cycle, and the uses of apples. This book is a perfect way to start introducing nonfiction reading and text features at a young age. It’s age-appropriate and introduces nonfiction features like a table of contents, labels, and a glossary.
2. Apple Countdown by Joan Holub and Jan Smith
Unique Feature: Counts backwards
Best for Ages: 2+
You can integrate math practice while reading about apples. While there are many counting-forward books, it’s often harder to find counting-backward books. Counting backward is an important foundational skill for subtraction. Additionally, you can practice one-to-one correspondence by counting the apples on each page or simply enjoy the story of the kids visiting the apple farm.
3. Apple Pie Picnic by Alicia Duran and Brian Fitzgerald
Unique Feature: Spanish words
Best for Ages: 2+
Apple Pie Picnic is a great story about a girl named Rosa and her apple tree. A fun feature of this story is its use of Spanish words throughout. It’s a great opportunity to talk about other languages and learn new words.
4. Apples A-Z by Margaret McNamara and Jake Parker
Unique Feature: Apple-themed alphabet book
Best for Agess: 2+
Apples A-Z is a fun way to explore letter sounds. As you go through the letters of the alphabet, each page has an apple-themed word that starts with a letter of the alphabet. This teaches plenty about apples, as well as helps you to explore sound or letter naming knowledge with your child.
5. Applesauce Day by Lisa J. Amstutz and Talitha Shipman
Unique Feature: Cooking vocabulary and book-to-life connections
Best for Ages: 2+
This is a sweet book about a family tradition of making applesauce. It helps children connect the story to their own family traditions. This book is also rich in kitchen and cooking vocabulary as it helps children hear and discuss words such as “crank” and “strainer.”
6. Apples, Apples Everywhere! Learning about Apple Harvests by Robin Koontz
Unique Feature: Informational story
Best for Ages: 3.5+
This book is an informational story about a trip to an apple orchard. It includes many interesting facts about apples as well as an apple activity at the back of the book. Younger preschoolers enjoy it, but it’s often a favorite for older ones..
7. From Apple Trees to Cider, Please! by Felicia Sanzari Chernesky
Unique Feature: Focuses on apple cider
Best for Ages: 3+
A rhyming book that shares a realistic view of how cider is made. Chock-full of vocabulary words, this book allows preschool students to build background knowledge and learn how a tasty autumn drink is made.
8. The Biggest Apple Ever by Steven Kroll and Jeni Bassett
Unique Feature: Part of a series
Best for Ages: 2+
This book is part of a fun holiday series. I enjoy reading each book in the series to my kids during the appropriate holiday season as it gives children chances to predict what might happen and connect stories in the series.”
9. How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman
Unique Feature: Focuses on food sources and geography
Best for Ages: 3.5+
This book is a great discussion starter about where food comes from. After all, there’s no such thing as an apple-pie tree! For a geography extension, find the places mentioned on a world map or globe. For a cooking extension, try the apple pie recipe printed in the back of this book! This is another book that would be best enjoyed by older preschoolers.
10. The Seasons of Arnold’s Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons
Unique Feature: Focuses on the seasonal changes of apple trees
Best for Ages: 2+
Gail Gibbons is one of my favorite nonfiction children’s authors. Although she has two apple-focused children’s books, I find this one friendlier for preschoolers. It also offers a new focus on apple learning. It explores the changes of the apple tree throughout the seasons.
11. Apples for Everyone by Jill Esbaum
Unique Feature: Preschool-friendly nonfiction book with National Geographic photographs
Best for Ages: 3+
The beautiful photographs and interesting apple facts make this book an engaging read for preschoolers.
12. How Do Apples Grow? by Jill McDonald
Unique Feature: Board Book
Best for Ages: 1+
An apple-themed nonfiction book for all ages! This board book provides fun and simple facts and even includes a diagram! If you like this book, it’s part of a 56-book series called Hello, World!
Wouldn’t it be delightful to have some apple activities to go along with these apple books for your preschooler? Check out my *free* apple-themed activity guide and start the apple learning fun! It includes learning activities, play ideas, discussion questions, material lists, and more.
