Johnny Appleseed Visual Discrimination Game for Preschoolers
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We celebrate Johnny Appleseed Day on September 26, and since fall is the perfect time to harvest apples, we want to celebrate his day with a FREE visual discrimination game. But before we start with the activity, let’s talk a little bit about this historical figure that over the years turned into a legend.
Who was Johnny Appleseed?
Johnny Appleseed‘s real name was John Chapman. He was an American pioneer born in Massachusetts on September 26, 1774. He bought land and carefully planted apple nurseries instead of orchards, fencing them to protect them and care for them. He sold these young trees to people so they can start their orchards, introducing apple trees in Pennsylvania, Ontario, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and West Virginia. Because of this, he was known as the “apple seed man”. He also traveled as a missionary and converted many Native Americans, who thought Johnny was touched by the Great Spirit. He died on March 18, 1845.
Today the image we have of him is traveling barefoot, with long hair, wearing a pan for a hat, ragged plants, and a coffee sack for the shirt, spreading apple seeds everywhere we went. That part is a legend.
Johnny Appleseed Visual Discrimination Game
This FREE game is a visual discrimination activity, perfect for your math center. Your preschoolers will enjoy it, while they learn, and it’s ready for you to print and use, at the bottom of this post!
It is perfect for your Johnny Appleseed theme, but also fall and apple themes. Since Preschoolers love to spin and cover games, this one will have practiced their fine motor, visual discrimination, and one-to-one correspondence skills.
Setting Up the Game
To set up this game you just need a few supplies:
- Johnny Appleseed Visual Discrimination Game (found at the bottom of this post).
- Apple mini erasers, red and green glass gems, or bingo chips to use as game pieces.
- Brads paper fasteners or transparent spinners.
How to Play The Johnny Appleseed Game
Students can play the Johnny Appleseed spin and cover game independently or in pairs.
To play in pairs, preschoolers will have to use two different types of color markers. They will take turns spinning the spinner and covering the corresponding picture on the mat. If the spinner falls in a picture that is no longer available, the child loses the turn. In the end, the child that was able to place five consecutive markers in any direction on the recording sheet wins the game.
To play independently, preschoolers will spin the spinner and cover a corresponding picture on the mat. This continues until they cover five consecutive pictures or the entire mat if they want.
Books About Johnny Appleseed
For me, books are an essential part of any theme or activity. It is a way to introduce what you’re going to talk about, expand the children’s vocabulary and imagination, a continued source of enjoyment, and an excellent way to tie all the domains, among other benefits. The following books can help your preschoolers get to know John Chapman a little better.
It’s Fall, and during this season we have a lot of fun celebrations. Check out the Fall Theme and Centers, and the Native American Day posts. They both have a lot of ideas for all your centers that you can use for your lesson plans. Better yet, both posts include many FREE printables.
I hope your kids enjoy this game, as much as mine did! And don’t forget to grab your FREE game. Just click on the link below for an immediate download.
Be happy, safe, and creative. I wish you well.
Love,
P.D. Please let me know if you like this game worked for you, or if you think I need to add or replace something. My goal is to help you in any way I can and I don’t like anything better than to post something that you might find useful. Also, if you came up with different ideas and want to share them, I will love to post them as well.
