Apple Tree Fine Motor Activity

Colleen Beck OTR/L
Colleen Beck, OTR/L is a pediatric occupational therapist and the owner and author of The OT Toolbox website. She manages all of The OT Toolbox social media accounts and runs the popular newsletter. Colleen created The OT Toolbox in 2011 and since then has written thousands of blog posts designed to support therapy providers, educators, parents, counselors, admin, and caregivers in promoting the healthy development of kids. Check out Colleen's blog posts below:

This apple activity is a fine motor activity for occupational therapy sessions with kids that builds many skill areas. I love this fine motor apple activity because you can make it work for the needs of each child. There is power to using hole punch activities with kids! Working on hand strength? Use the hole punch to build skills. Working on dexterity? Pick up the small red circles to place them on the felt apple tree. You can even incorporate it into a vertical plane activity or add apple brain breaks to the session. The sky is the limit!

Picture of a felt apple tree with small red dots and dice. text reads Apple Tree fine motor activity

I love this apple tree activity because you can use dice to work on hand mobility, small apple dots that are precision work, and you can incorporate other skills into the activity.

This fine motor apple activity would go really well with our apple sensory bin and our Apple Therapy Kit.

Apple Tree Fine Motor Activity

Pair this apple tree activity with our apple tweezer activity for even more apple themed fine motor fun.

Fine motor strengthening is a hot topic when it comes to back-to-school time.  Kids go back into the classroom and need to get back up to speed on all of the fine motor requirements in the classroom.  What better way to work on fine motor strength than with a Fall apple theme? This apple themed fine motor activity adds a bit of math, too and it’s super easy to create for hands-on play, learning, and fine motor work.
 
Kids will love this fine motor strengthening apple activity this fall.

 

Fine Motor Strengthening Activity

This apple tree activity is a fun way to build the intrinsic muscle strength of the hands as well as gross grasp strength.  It’s an easy activity to throw together, and the steps of the activity help to build strength of the hands, too.
 
Materials needed to make this apple tree activity:
 
Affiliate links are included in this post.
 
 
Kids will love this fine motor strengthening apple activity this fall.
 
To create the apple tree, cut the green felt into a tree-ish shape.  Cutting felt is a complex scissor task, so older kids can help with this part.  If you are able to use stiff felt, cutting through the material is a strengthening exercise in itself. 
 
Next, cut the brown felt into a trunk shape, by simply cutting strait lines. Consider allowing the child to cut the trunk shape as cutting strait lines on a material such as felt is easier, yet the flimsy material makes it difficult to cut.  A stiffer material would work well for this part as well.
 
Use strips of paper to build hand strength
 
Next, cut the red cardstock into small, thin strips of paper.  This is not necessary for the end result of the activity, however there is a fine motor benefit to the extra step.  Kids can hold the thin strips of paper with a pincer grasp using their non-dominant, helper hand.  Using the small strips of paper requires precision. Kids will then be required to slow down while using the hole punch so that they don’t cut the holes over the edge of the strip of the paper.  
 
Need a hole punch that requires less effort for younger kids or those who need to build their gross muscle grip strength?  Try this one.
 

Hole Punch Activity

 
Before we move on, I want to take a moment to talk about this portion of the activity.
 
Cutting paper strips and using a hole punch along the strip is an easy fine motor activity that you can set up with items you probably have on hand….Cut strips of paper. Use different grades and remember that cutting thicker paper means more resistance which is good for strengthening the hands.
 
Use a hole punch to punch holes along the paper strip. This supports eye hand coordination, motor planning, bilateral coordination, grip strength, and more. Here’s more on this activity…and then a fun way to use those small dots for more fine motor fun.
 
Use the brown cardstock to make a small apple barrel shape. This can be used in the math part of this activity.
 
A slower cut with the hole punch allows for the muscles of the hands to exercise with prolonged tension and increases blood flow.  Using the hole punch with slow repetitions builds gross grasp strength.
 
Once the apple tree and apples are created, kids can place them on the tree. The cardstock will not stick permanently to the felt, but they will stay in place for temporary play.  Scatter the red cardstock circles, (those are your apples!) onto the table.  Show your child or student how to pick up the apples and place them onto the apple tree.  Picking up the small cardstock circles is a real workout for the intrinsic muscles of the hand. 
 
To make this activity easier, place the cardstock circles on a piece of felt.
 

Apple Fine Motor Activity

 
Add a bit of math to this activity with a pair of dice.  Show your child how to roll the dice and then count the number of dots on the dice.  They can then add and count the number of apples and place them on the tree.  
 
There are several ways to build on this activity:
 
  • Use the dice to add apples.
  • Subtract by taking away apples from the tree. 
  • Create multiple step math problems by adding and them subtracting the numbers on the dice to put on and then remove apples.
 
Apple fine motor strengthening activity and fall math with hands-on learning.
 

Looking for more apple activities?  Try these:

The Apple Therapy Kit is full of fine motor, visual motor, and sensory motor tools to support fine motor skill development needed for handwriting and other functional tasks.

This therapy kit, along with many other apple themed resources can be found inside The OT Toolbox Membership Club.

Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.

Picture of a felt apple tree with small red dots and dice. text reads Apple Tree fine motor activity

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