Today on Kids Get Crafty, I am FINALLY getting round to doing some Apple Printing with Red Ted. We came up with a little technique make it easier for small chubby fingers. Come take a look. Don’t forget that this is also a link up party/ blog hop for all craftiness with and for children! Do take part. Do be inspired! Link up at bottom of post! Hooray!
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So, why did I say “finally”? It has been “apple printing seasons” for weeks now and I have been seeing lovely crafts all over the other lovely blogs. We however, have been having some difficulties “doing them”:
1) I like to use the mini apples that fall from our (small) tree, as the tree itself produce precious few fruit. So our apples are smaller and harder to handle.
2) Red Ted didn’t quite “get” printing at first, so needed several goes to understand and “want to do it”.
3) I don’t know about you, but I find veg printing usually results in the veg (or fruit) sticking to the paper and not coming off very easily and you ending up with lots of paint all over your hands.
So. After some pondering and some practice, we came up with this: the humble cloth peg! We have used cloth pegs and cotton wool to paint before, so Red Ted love these. I just “stuck” the peg into the apple and hey presto, we had a handle for printing and it went so much easier. Less mess too!
So we made some wrapping paper (to get our printing fingers) and then we made some trees. Red Ted loved painting the green of the tree and his little face lit up when he saw the red apple go on top. I then cut the trees out for him and put them on colour paper as a present for Granny and Grandpa!
And here is a gorgeous little book:
Our Apple Tree by Gorel Kristina Naslund, Kristina Digman. I love this book – it takes you through the season and explains what “the apple tree is doing throughout the year”. We may only see activity in spring and summer, but the tree is hard at work all year round. I love how it explains the seasons and makes you think about all the things going on throughout the year. I also adore the illustrations. Having grown some vegetables together this year, Red Ted really has taken to books showing how things grow and it is great to look at one that shows what the trees do all by themselves – i.e. nothing from us. I think he can’t wait for next spring and watching everything again.
If you are loosing regular sized apples, then they are fabulous for making wrapping paper.
Isn’t it just gorgeous?!
Becky says
Am loving the peg idea..how simple but how useful! Hope you like frankie sdragon
Kerstin says
Super Idee!Kriegst den “weltallerpraktischste Mummy der Welt” Titel von mir. 🙂
Welche Farben verwendest Du denn? Acryl?
Liebe Grüße, Kerstin x
Red Ted Art says
Ja, ich habe Acryl lieber! Man aber ruhig auch poster paints/ kinderfarben hernehmen. Finde sie aber sehr trocken!!
Becky- oooh thanks for the dragon!And yes, we love the cloth pegs!! Use them for cotton wool painting too!
Maggy
maria says
What a clever idea to use pegs, we got all messy with our potato printing and had many trials before managing the final version in the photo.
jfb57 says
Definitely will pimp this one for you! Loads of folks will love it!
Red Ted Art says
Julia!! You are fabulous! Thank you! x
cathy@nurturestore says
Great tip about the pegs. Carrot printing is also a good option for little ones too as they’re chunky and easier for them to hold (and you can carve shapes in the end to print with). I’ll add our archive ‘carrot printing’ post to the linky. 🙂
Jen says
Cute prints! I did a post about a week ago on my blog about sticking a fork in the apple so my son had something to hold onto! Great minds think alike! 🙂
Molly says
Great idea! The peg, the fork, the carrot….things I never thought of. Thanks!
Fun On A Dime Lady says
I’ve been thinking about doing this for awhile and now seeing it in action, I know the kids would love it.
Thanks for sharing at Brag Fest and I hope you keep linking up every Friday!
Anne@LittleSproutBooks says
Been meaning to do some apple prints too, but only sponges so far. I love the little handles – my mess-bothered little one will too!
Susana says
This is a fun apple tree! My middle son would LOVE this! Thank you for a fun idea!
JDaniel4's Mom says
I love your solution. I have read several post about the food sticking.
Almost Unschoolers says
Very clever with the clothespin!
Discovering Montessori says
Thank you for the idea of the clothespins. I guess now we can do apple prints too. Thank you for sharing.
Janelle says
The use of the peg is an awesome tip. I also like how you kept the stem on the apple.
maryanne says
I love the peg adaptation to make apple stamping easier for little hands! This is an activity I still need to try with my kids!
Michelle says
What cute little apple trees
Christy says
Great craft and very clever with the clothespins!
I will link up here eventually. I keep forgetting! Sorry.
Sarah says
What a great project!!! So fun 🙂
Debbie says
What a neat idea!
kelli says
i like the peg idea too, I have done potato prints with the kids before too
JDaniel4's Mom says
I love this idea! Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing it with my readers.
Michelle says
Very clever!
threeundertwo says
Another great project! Thanks so much for linking up to Finished for Friday.
joyce:waddleeahchaa.com says
Loved all the creative ideas! Thanks, 🙂 joyce
Growing Godly Girlz says
What a clever idea to use the clothes clips-I will have to try that tomorrow as we are planning to do some apple painting!! Thanks for the tips. I am visiting from growing3godlygirlz@blogspot.com
Natalie says
Thanks for joining WMCIR with yet another great book and a great modification of apple printing for little heads. I can see from the pictures that Red Ted enjoyed it a lot.
Jacke says
This is great. We tried apple printing and it did not go well. There was paint everywhere and my youngest just wanted to eat his apple (paint and all). I think adding a “handle” a great idea. We’ll have to have an apple printing redo day! Thanks
Red Ted Art says
Oooh I do hope it works for you 🙂 good luck.. and yes the apple eating is a problem!!!!