counting and sorting apples

I purchased these little wooden apples from this store while I was making other purchases and knew we would put them to good use. They are super cute and are just the right size for counting and transferring activities, though too small for wee ones that are still mouthing things.

I had the kids divide them into 5 sets of 20 for dyeing, and then processed them the same way I did the pasta here (use food coloring and rubbing alcohol). I decided to dye some wooden people and rings I'd gotten while I was at it.

Apples, rings, and people sorted by color.

Apples before dyeing.

I'm going to lose my head for dyeing the apples red.

Some people dyed (ha). The purple came out so deep and brilliant.

Seriously, it is like a rainbow spewed them out.

Sorting game.

H sorts.

F sorts.

In addition to the sorting game, we have played UNO with these pieces - each player gets 7 pieces to start with and then one piece starts off the pot. Each player takes turns matching either the shape or color until someone wins by using all their pieces. If they can't match either color or shape, they have to keep drawing pieces from the bag until they get a match.