# Apple Dough with Real Apples
> Mix a classic cooked-style play dough with pureed apple pie filling and apple pie spice for a wonderfully fragrant fall dough. Shape it into red, green and yellow apples, then set up a pretend cupcake bakery.
- URL: https://www.funlittles.com/fall-activities-apple-dough-recipe/
- Ages: 3–6 yrs · Difficulty: easy · Mess: medium
- Time: prep 25 min, activity 30 min
- Works for: one-on-one, small group, whole class · one batch serves about 2 kids
- Skills: fine-motor, sensory-exploration, pretend-play, measuring, seasons
- Cautions: wheat-gluten, food-dye, ingestion-risk

## Materials (one batch)
- 1 cup All-purpose flour (household)
- 0.25 cup Salt (household)
- 2 tbsp Vegetable oil (household)
- 1 tbsp Cream of tartar
- 2 tbsp Apple pie filling, ground to a fine puree
- Apple pie spice
- 0.75 cup Boiling water (household)
- Food coloring (red, green, yellow)
- 1 piece Large mixing bowl (household)
- 1 piece Mixing spoon and measuring cups/spoons (household)
- 1 piece Blender or food processor (household)
- 1 piece Real leaves for apple stems (optional) (household)
- Silicone cupcake liners
- Sprinkles (optional)
- Pom poms (optional)
- 1 piece Plastic knives and spoons (household)

## Substitutions
- Instead of apple pie filling: Apple sauce (The author assumes it would also work. She didn't test it.)

## Safety
- Adult handles the boiling water. Let the dough cool before kids knead it.
- This is play dough, not food. It smells like apple pie, but it contains a lot of salt, so don't let kids eat it. Keep it away from pets.
- Pom poms and sprinkles are small parts. Supervise closely and skip them with children who still mouth things.
- Use plastic knives for cutting the dough.
- If you use real leaves as apple stems, wash them and use only leaves from a plant you know is non-toxic.
- If you add alum to make it last longer, keep the dough away from children who mouth play materials.
- Food color can stain hands and surfaces.

## Before you start
- Grind the apple pie filling into a fine puree.
- Set out silicone cupcake liners, sprinkles, pom poms and plastic knives and spoons for the pretend bakery.
- Collect and wash a few leaves for the apple stems.

## Steps
1. Add 1 cup flour, 1/4 cup salt, 2 tbsp oil and 1 tbsp cream of tartar to a large bowl.
2. Spoon in 2 tbsp of pureed apple pie filling and a good sprinkle of apple pie spice.
3. Add food color for this batch: red, green or yellow.
4. Adult: pour in 3/4 cup boiling water and stir.
5. When it's cool enough to touch, knead the dough into a big apple ball. An adult can help with the last of the kneading.
6. Poke a leaf into the top of each apple for a stem.
7. Set the apples out with cupcake liners, sprinkles, pom poms and plastic knives and spoons.
8. Cut the big apple dough into pieces.
9. Press dough into the liners, then pour sprinkles and stick pom poms on to decorate your cupcakes.
10. Line up your apple cupcakes for a grown-up to admire.

## Tips
- If you need a stronger scent, add more pie filling and a bit more flour. Pie filling really makes it smell delicious.
- The kids made this one for the large part and needed help only during the last stages of kneading.
- Cutting that large apple dough was the most fun for my preschooler, and she was building fine motor skills without even knowing it.
- Leaves from our orange tree made perfect apple stems. My 4-year-old couldn't stop giggling about that.
- The kids lined up their cupcakes and wanted me to choose a favorite. No way I'm falling into that trap!
- Themed activities give kids a sense of time and seasons. Mine asked if doing fall stuff meant Halloween was coming soon.
- Store it in an air-tight container or zip bag. After 8 days the author's dough was still in great condition, with no mold at room temperature. Refrigerated dough gets a bit harder.
- Add a little alum to increase the shelf life.
- A preschool teacher planned to make it in class and keep it for about a week and a half. (from readers)

## FAQ
**How do you store the dough?** In an air-tight container or zip-top plastic bag.
**How long does it keep with real apple puree?** The author's dough was in great condition after 8 days in zip bags, both in the fridge and at room temperature, with no mold. The fridge dough was a bit harder. Adding a little alum can increase shelf life.
**Does the apple filling make the dough stickier?** Not really. It has the usual play dough consistency because only a few spoons of filling go in.

## The original post by TurkeyMom (2013)

Fall may not be here, but September is. I can't wait to create all the fun [**fall activities**](https://www.funlittles.com/category/season/fall-season/) for the kids, do cute [**fall crafts**](https://www.funlittles.com/propeller-seeds-bugs/) and ooh [**fall sensory bins.**](https://www.funlittles.com/fall-sensory-bin/) Don't you just love autumn? My preschooler has already fallen in love with the apple pie scent and the other day wanted me to add the apple scent to her mango shake! Talk about quirky! To up the upcoming season's excitement we have joined hands with 3 other awesome blogs out there to bring you 5 days of amazing ***fall activities.*** This fall activities series will run on **Learn Play Imagine,** [**Fun At Home With Kids**](http://www.funathomewithkids.com/), and **Housing a Forest.** **Here are our themes for the series:** **Monday** : [**Fall themed dough**](https://www.funlittles.com/fall-activities-apple-dough-recipe/) **Tuesday** : [**Fall themed paints**](https://www.funlittles.com/fall-activities-homemade-edible-apple-paints/) **Wednesday**: [**Fall themed glowing play ideas**](https://www.funlittles.com/homemade-glow-dark-window-clings/) **Thursday :** [**Scents of Fall**](https://www.funlittles.com/fall-activities-homemade-scented-candles/) **Friday:** Fall themed nature play ideas.. On to today's post - Apple dough with real apples! The fragrance was astonishing! We gathered our supplies to make our apple dough. The kids made this one for the large part and needed help during the last stages of kneading. We used our favorite [**play dough recipe**](https://www.funlittles.com/fresh-flowers-play-dough-play/) to make these. The kids added the flour, salt, oil and the cream of tartar to a large bowl  Then they spooned in the apple pie filling which was ground to a fine puree. I'd assume you can also use apple sauce to make this very fragrant recipe. After adding the apple, they added more apple pie spice for extra fragrance.



Finally we added boiling water and kneaded the dough into big balls of apples. We made three colors - red, green and yellow.The kids grabbed a few leaves from our *orange* tree to add to our apples and my 4 year old couldn't stop giggling about that. { simple things}



I set out a few simple supplies for them for pretend play. A few silicone cupcakes liners, sprinkles, pom poms and plastic knives and spoons.



Cutting that large apple dough was the most fun for my preschooler. Unknowingly she was developing her [**fine motor skills**](https://www.funlittles.com/category/fine-motor-activities/) -all through play.



*{The kids and I love themed activities. Engaging in fall activities is giving the kids a sense of time and a better understanding of seasons. I loved it when she said " so we are doing fall stuff, does it mean it is going to be Halloween soon?" I loved that question and it makes all our themed/seasonal activities worth it!}*

They had a lot of fun pretending to make cupcakes with the apples. Kneading the dough, pinching the dough, rolling the dough and squishing up the dough. All while taking big whiffs of the yummy apple scent.



They "poured" the sprinkles and stuck pom poms to decorate their cakes.



The kids lined up their newly created apple cupcakes for mommy. It seemed I HAD to choose my favorite. No way I'm falling into that trap! That beautiful smile would have turned upside down.



**The recipe**

1 cup flour

1/4 cup salt

2 tbsp oil

1 tbsp of cream of tar tar

2 tbsp of apple pie filling

a good sprinkle of apple spice.

3/4 cup of boiling water.

If you need a stronger scent, add more pie filling and a bit more flour. Pie filling really makes it smell delicious.

**Thanks for reading**

***To see what the other blogs did for our fall themed dough day visit the following links***

[**Pumpkin Spice Marshmallow Dough**](http://www.housingaforest.com/pumpkin-spice-marshmallow-dough) from Housing A Forest

**Fall Play Dough** from Learn Play Imagine

[**Pumpkin Spice Ornaments**](http://www.funathomewithkids.com/2013/09/pumpkin-spice-salt-dough-for-ornaments.html) from Fun At Home With Kids