How Many Apples? File Folder Game

Today's file folder game idea is for ages 2-4 year olds.  However, it can easily be adapted for kindergarten and 1st grade students (instructions at the bottom of the post).

To Make it:

Cut tree trunks out of brown paper.  I actually had some brown sticky foam sheets, so I used that, which is fun because of the texture.  Write your numbers on the trunks using a sharpie.  The tree trunks will be the piece that is attached to the file folder.  I used the sticky backing of the foam to attach, but you can use glue or tape.  

Cut "trees" out of green paper.  Cut apples out of red.  Attach different amounts of apples to each tree.  Since I made this folder for my 2 year old, I used #'s 1-4.  You can use any numbers.  Laminate the trees.

Using velcro squares, attach one side of the velcro to the trees, and the other side to the file folder.  Now your apple trees can be attached to their corresponding tree trunk!

That's it!  Pretty simple, huh?

To Adapt it:

This file folder can easily be adapted for older children.  

OPTION #1:

Your apples could come in groups of 5's or 10's or 2's, depending on what your child is learning (i.e. if a tree has 5 groups of 10 apples, the trunk would read "50" and the child would be counting by 10's to figure out 'How many apples?').  

OPTION #2:

It would also be easy to adapt these trees using math problems.  The apples could be sorted into 2 groups on the tree, with a + or - and an = sign on each one.  The child would read "one apple plus three apples equals..." and they would hunt for the trunk reading "4."