Do this simple activity after reading Dr. Seuss’s Ten Apples Up On Top, and you’ll turn storytime into a STEM lesson.
Dr. Seuss Day is fast approaching (March 2nd), and if you are like me, it means you’re rounding up all your favorite Dr. Seuss books and preparing hands-on activities to go along with them.
Kids love games and activities that allow them to further explore their favorite books. In Ten Apples Up On Top, animals try to balance ten apples on their heads, so the book pairs really well with all kinds of stacking pursuits.
Stacking is one of those deceptively innocent activities. It looks as if kids are just having fun when in fact, they are practicing their problem-solving skills, fine motor muscles, and hand-eye coordination.
In the past, we have followed the reading of Ten Apples Up On Top with stacked playdough apples, plastic cups, and blocks. But last year, we discovered that stacking stones is just as much (or maybe even more) entertaining, as well as and noisier, which of course adds to the delight.
As a side note, check out our other Dr. Seuss STEAM activities. Dr. Seuss’s Inspired Center of Gravity Experiments and The Cat in the Hat Engineering Challenge.
What you need:
Ten stones
Red, yellow, and/or green paint (we used acrylics)
A paintbrush or plastic tweezers/ cup
Playdough (optional)
Double-sided sticky tape (optional)
Mud (optional)
A copy of Dr. Seuss’s Ten Apples Up On Top
What to do:
- Do you prefer eating red or green apples? We love both, so we colored our “apples” red and green and let them dry overnight. Yellow apples are also an option if you are a fan of Golden Delicious and Gingergold apple varieties.
2. Invite your kids to stack the stones as you read each page. Unless you have absolutely flat stones, stacking them is a challenging activity even for adults.
3. You might want to add playdough or double-sided sticky tape to help your kids stack all ten stones.
If like us, you like to make homemade playdough, I recommend using all-natural colorings derived from vegetables and spices. Today we used turmeric (Asian spice that comes from the turmeric plant) and annatto powder (which comes from a shrub that grows in many regions worldwide) to make a yellow playdough.
Who will enjoy this activity? Everyone! From preschooler to 7th grader, all my kids thought that stacking stones is extremely fun.
Are You Ready For More Apple Challenges?
This collection of FREE printable apple challenges is a fun way to sneak some STEM into your day. Just print, cut, and use. In place of real apples, you can use stones, plastic apples, or pom-poms.
To grab your set, enter your email below, and I will send you a password to Kid Minds FREE library of resources right away.
Cute stem activity! Can’t wait to try it!
OH, that’s great, Shawn! I hope it went well!