The other day we went apple picking for my birthday. It was something I had wanted to do for a long time and it was wonderful; I know we’re only a few days in and all, but it really has made my autumn!
The only problem is that we ended up with quite a large number of apples (over 5 kg in fact) and so I needed some ideas of what to do with them; although we eat apples like they’re going out of fashion, I didn’t think we could manage to just eat them all. I have a number of recipes planned for the coming days, but I thought we’d start by using them to do some painting. Again, this is something we have never tried, so it had to be done!
I set everything up in the tuff spot outside. It was a lovely day and I wanted to make the most of the September sun, but I also didn’t have any paper plates to put blobs of paint onto; I thought it would be easier and cleaner to just shove it on the tuff spot in the garden. So that is what we did.
I cut up four apples, put blobs of autumn-coloured paint (orange, red, yellow and brown) directly onto the tuff spot, and stuck a strip of paper down the middle (I did it in two halves so that both A and E had their own of everything, in the hope of minimising arguments). A then added a few leaves also!
They were so excited that they instantly dived in. They both plonked their apples straight into the paint and began to print. (A got covered in paint straight away; I was so relieved I had decided to do this outside).
But then E got paint on his hands, so that was enough of that and he went off to do some sweeping instead.
A, however, remained engaged for ages. She mixed the paints and commented on the colours that resulted. She experimented with textures, comparing the results produced by dabbing the apples and sliding the apples. She also compared the sizes and shapes of the apples (one of the best things about picking the apples from the orchard was the sheer amount on offer. There were so many varieties, colours, sizes, and tastes; amazing for both the taste buds, and the resulting learning opportunities)!
After a while she decided that she wanted to print with the leaves also; as she did so she commented on the patterns and textures produced (we must do leaf printing properly later on in the season when more leaves have fallen from the trees).
I thought that the result was quite beautiful (though how can it not be when it is made of such beautiful colours)!
Are there any other activities that you enjoy doing with apples (besides baking), especially any non‑messy ones for my mess-phobic boy?
Chocolate and Wine and I'll be Fine... 
Forgot to say a belated happy birthday. You chose perfect colours for the paint. It does make a striking autumn piece of art. You could cut out a hole at the top and put a candle in. Quite fun to see the patterns from the dripping candle and it smells lovely too, especially as a centrepiece at supper time. Or make a shrunken apple head. We tend to freeze a lot of our apples for later use. My children love helping, especially if they can use my apple machine. #CountryKids
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Aww thank you 🙂 yes autumn colours are the best aren’t they – you just can’t go wrong! I love the idea of making it into a candle holder though – I imagine that is a bit like a christingle candle with an orange at christmas? We still have a few apples left so I think we will need to freeze them for crumbles later on!
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This looks like fab fun! I’ve never done printing like this with my daughter, as I am not a very crafty mummy, but I am sure she would love something like this! We’ve got a fair few extra apples too… #countrykids
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It was such a brilliant craft! And so cheap and simple – you could use other things too (I have always wanted to try carving potatoes into fancy shapes for printing, though that may be a bit beyond my talent!
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Looks like your kids enjoyed that a lot. I don’t really do much with apples except eat them…though I do know you can MUMMIFY them (when we were studying egypt we did that with an egg, which was fascinating, but I’ve seen pins of it done with apples.). #CountryKids
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Oh wow I did not know that – how on earth do you do that?! Amazing!
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What a fun activity for A and E to have a go at, these Tuff Spots are fab for messy crafty activities like this. It’s a shame E didn’t enjoy it that much but at least A had a wonderful time exploring with the different textures. With our big apples we’ve done apple carving before, like small scale pumpkin carving, we had plans to do some apple crafts this week but the Coombe Mill orchard’s have failed us so far.
Thanks for linking up with me on #CountryKids.
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I love the idea of apple carving – we carve pumpkins and peppers (seriously these are brilliant) at Halloween but I never though to carve apples! Do you have to remove any of the inside? Or do you just carve away with a complete apple? I am so sorry your apples have failed a bit this year 😦
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When I was a chef we used make swan apples.Lovely use of nature to make art.
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Oh wow, now that sounds like a skill I wish I had!
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What a great idea 🙂 Looks like fun #Countrykids
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Thank you – it was great fun and so cheap and simple!
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This looks like great fun! I would never have thought of using apples for this! #KCACOLS
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Thank you – it was great fun! The apples worked brilliantly!
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What an amazing idea! I love doing outdoors art stuff with the girls. Then they can make as much mess as they want. This morning we made spaceships – just wrapping used water bottles in foil (without caps for safety as I have a 17 month old!) Then the girls can stick what they want on their space-like bottles. Will have to try out your apple art session soon x #KCACOLS
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I love that idea – I was thinking of doing some space crafts in a few weeks so I will definitely remember that! Did you write it up? The apple art was so much fun and so simple!
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This is such a lovely idea. I have a freezer full of apples waiting to be used, wish I had thought of saving some for the kids to play with! #CountryKids
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Thank you – they are so much fun to play with! You will just have to buy a few more so that you can play too 🙂
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This is such a good idea and perfect for this time of year where it’s still not too cold out, so they can easily do it outside without getting too chilly or bored. I’d love to try this with my eldest, thanks for the tip! Thanks so much for linking up at #KCACOLS. Hope you come back again next Sunday.
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Thank you! Yes the weather has been so perfect for the start of autumn – I do appreciate being able to do crafts outside!
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What a great idea. We’ve used leaves and potatoes but I’ve never thought of printing with apples.
#countrykids
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I know me neither, but they worked brilliantly! Yes I love leaf and potato printing too!
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That looks like so much fun! I picked a few apples when I was younger, and thought they would be like Pink Lady apples but they tasted so sour I never picked apples again! Haha!
This looks like so much fun – might have to give it a go myself soon!
#ChasingNature
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Oh no! I love sour apples though 🙂 Yes you should definitely try again!
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I have yet to do this with Lily but we have been waiting for a day where the weather wasn’t as great. We dont have a garden so painting outdoors and paint going everywhere may get us into a little trouble. Looks like they all did a great job #CountryKids
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Painting outside is the best, but yes painting inside is good too! Thank you!
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Such a good idea! I remember doing potato printing as a child. I will definitely do this with my daughter when she’s older…perhaps next year. The ‘paint on the hand’ photo made me laugh out loud. That’s exactly what my daughter does when she gets yoghurt on her hand…after eating yoghurt with her hand!
Hope you have more masterpieces to come!
#KCACOLS
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Haha, that is so cute! Yes my boy hates getting his hands dirty and is just the same. I think I caught him at the right time in that photo! I love it too!
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Oh I do loved the finished art pieces. Especially the added hand prints. Painting with fruit and vegetable is great fun and a great way to teach children about textures. I love your trays, I must get one for my two. Thank you for linking up with #ChasingNature
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I know I didn’t notice the hand prints until after she had finished and packed up – she is obsessed with them and has to bring them into everything! I definitely recommend tuff spots – they are very useful!
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That sure sounds like a lot of apples to me. Something like apple bobbing springs to mind – what floats and what doesn’t? #CountryKids
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Oh yes! I love apple bobbing. It is definitely time to introduce it to my two!
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Fab idea for little ones. Might have to give this a go with my daughter x #KCACOLS
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It was really fun! I love crafts like this where it just doesn’t matter what they do, or how the end product turns out!
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