Grab a free printable apple reader to use with your preschool or kindergarten students.
Related: Fall Alphabet Cards
I love making books with my preschool students. Class books, individual books, books for friends, books for parents, etc.
So many great learning opportunities arise when making books with kids. Sometimes, I combine kids’ art with words to make books. Other times, I create a short printable for the children. That’s the case with this apple emergent reader the children worked on during our preschool apple theme.
Table of Contents
Book Making Fun with a Printable Apple Emergent Reader
This printable apple book (you can grab a copy at the end of the post) is easy to prep and easy to use with the children. Print, fold, staple, and go!
What the apple book looks like
When creating this emergent reader for the kids, I kept everything simple. The layout is very basic, the words are easy and repetitive, and the pictures are simple. This way, the children aren’t overwhelmed.
The book consists of 4 letter-sized pieces of papers. Each page folds in half vertically, which leads to 8 mini pages. Even the prep work for making the book is easy — simply copy, fold, and staple!
Here’s a quick video to show you how to assemble the books without cutting them:
The front cover has the title “I See Apples”, along with space for a child’s name.
Each page follows the title’s pattern and focuses on the different colors apples can be. All apples are red, yellow, or green (or some combination thereof), so the first three pages consist of those colors.
Related: Tiny Apples Sensory Play
The page “I see white” focuses on what an apple looks like when it’s bitten into.
The page “I see brown” led to a nice discussion of what happens when an apple is eaten down to the core and left out. Perfect for a mini lesson on oxidation if you want!
Introducing the printable apple book to the children
I introduced the book to the children by saying, “We’re going to make a book about different color apples.” Nothing spectacular, but it let the kids know what the book would be about.
Going page by page, I read the book to the children. I underlined the color words and stressed how important it is that pictures in a book match the words. Then I had the children color the apple the appropriate color.

He is very focused on his illustrations!
Related: Number Apples and One-to-One Correspondence Activity
What the kids learned with this emergent reader
The printable apple reader gave me the chance to introduce (or review) many concepts with the children in a meaningful way. We talked about:
- color words
- parts of an apple
- print concepts
- even our own apple preferences
So much in such a short period of time! Now that the kids have completed the books, the readers will go into the children’s book boxes. This will give the children lots of chances to reread the apple book they made! With each reading, even more early literacy concepts will be touched upon!
Don’t forget to get your free copy of the book at the end of this post!
If you’re looking for more apple-themed ideas, check out my Apple Theme Pinterest board!
Have you ever made books with your children/students? What do they enjoy about book making?
More Apple-Themed Resources
Save time and get right to the playful learning with done-for-you lesson plans and educational activities for preschoolers. Click on the photos below for more information on our apple preschool lesson plans, 10 apples on top plans, and apple ten-frame task cards:
- Ten Apples Lesson Plans
Grab Your Free Printable Apple Book
This freebie is available to members of Fun-A-Day’s free email community. If you’re not a member, feel free to join (and you can grab the book as a welcome gift – we have even more freebies for you too!). If you’re already a member, you can enter your information too and you won’t be added a second time. Click on the button below to join us:
I love this! It’s perfect. I have an early reader AND we are going apple picking this weekend! Thank you.
I’m so glad you liked the apple book! Let me know how it goes, and have tons of fun on your apple picking trip.
I love this book! I’m currently doing apples as my theme and would love to include this. I’m having trouble accessing the freebie you have posted Would you be able to email it to me?? Thanks so much!
Michelle
Yay, so glad you liked it!! I hope you received the email I sent a while ago. Let me know how it works out when you try it!
I love the “I See Apples” emergent reader. I tried as well to access it but I could not retrieve it- is there anyway that you could email it to me? I would love to use it with my students.
Thanks!
I would love to get this book for my preschoolers we are having a apple/Harvest week but I can not figure out how to get to it. I have liked you on Facebook but not sure where to go from there. my face book is Samantha Puperi. Any direction would be great!
Hi Sami! It’s listed under the “freebies” tab, next to the number of likes the page has received. Email me at rda.of.fun@gmail.com if you have any difficulty getting to it! 🙂
I printed the book, but I’m not exactly sure how to copy it and make it into a book.
Hi Lee Ann! Fold each page in half along the vertical line running in the middle of the page. Make sure the pictures are facing out when you fold. Then staple the book in order from there. Does that make sense? I may need to add photos or a video for this part!
So I need to copy them double sided?
Nevermind! I got it!! 🙂
Wonderfully creative and age appropriate book! And I write leveled books, so I know what I am talking about! Congratulations. I look forward to exploring your site.
Thank you so much, Ann! I really appreciate it – welcome, and have fun looking around. 🙂
Thank you so much for this!! It was exactly what I needed!!!
Yay, so glad to hear that! 🙂
Thank you for the “I See Apples” book! I can’t wait to share it with my preschoolers.
You’re so welcome! Let me know how it goes! 🙂
Loved this reader! Thank you so much!
Glad you’re happy with it!!! 🙂
Our sight words this week are I /see . Thanks for sharing this perfect resource.
I’m so glad you found it helpful! 🙂
You have beautiful materials, I teach ESL in Beijing and these could be very useful . Is the apples emergent reader free? If so could you Would you be able to email it to me .
Thank you
Ursula
Hi Ursula, thanks so much for the sweet words! I love hearing where my readers are and what they’re teaching. Yes, the apple reader is a free printable available to members of my free email community. You can find the button to join at the very bottom of the post, right before the long image. I’d love to have you join us. 🙂
I love this book. It look perfect for my PreK kids. Thank you.
So glad to hear that, Stacy! Thanks. 🙂
my daughter likes it so much
I’m so happy to hear your daughter enjoys the emergent reader, Sarah!
I am looking forward to using this book for harvist month with my TK kiddos! We are hoping to get them interested in reading. Quick question- would the 4/5 year olds be able to assemble this or should staff premake them?
Glad to hear that! Be sure to let me know what your students think. 🙂 I prefer to assemble the books ahead of time (I’ve never had the kids help assemble them).
I just downloaded the I see apples reader, however it is password protected. How do I get it so I can print it off for my students? I would love to have this for them to do this week!
Hi Jennifer! It’s only password protected in terms of editing the book – clipartists ask that we secure printables that way so people cannot easily just grab the clipart without purchasing it themselves. The password doesn’t apply to printing (I just double-checked now). Hope that helps!
These books are perfect for emergent readers! I like to make a”Big Book” to read together, then I like to make little books for each child to color and read with each other! Then they can take the book home and read it everyday with parents! Great predictable text!
Yes, I love making “big books” with the kids too! Thanks so much for the kind words. 🙂
Thank you!
You are very welcome! I hope you and the kids enjoy the book!
Thank you for doing all the work for me! My first graders will love reading this book!!
I’m so happy to hear your first graders will enjoy it! 🙂
Nice reader for all levels.
Thank you!
I would love to know where to download this emergent reader. I have looked every where and cant find where to download.
Hi Karen, There’s a large teal button close to the bottom of the post. It’s under the heading “Grab Your Free Printable Apple Book” 🙂
I could really incorporate these in my daily plans
Let me know how it goes if you try the book with your students!