First things first - have an adult cut the apple in HALF. Save one half for the craft and eat the other :-)
Next up - squirt some red craft paint on a paper plate. Rub the apple half in the paint and "stamp" it on the white cardstock. Repeat until you have as many apple prints as you want/need. Just be sure to leave a little room between each print.
So here is my tip - originally I had intentions of using TEN apple prints for the hat {just like in the book} Well - I learned that, that was just TOO many and they wouldn't hold up when wearing the hat. So we compromised and my suggestion is to use as many apples as the child is old. So in my case, my son is seven and seven prints were able to hold up on the hat with little to no problem. I do suggest no more than that though! We also played around with the idea of putting a ruler or popsicle stick on the back of the prints for stability BUT my son did not like that. You could try that though as well ;-) It might also depend on the size of apple you use for the "prints" so keep that in mind as well! I believe our apples were a little on the small side. This could be a "learning" exprience on how many apples you can "hold" on your hat {just like in the book!}
Once you have the prints down, go ahead and set them aside a bit to let the paint dry. When the paint is dry, use scissors to trim around them. Set aside
Now grab your yellow cardstock {or whatever color you like for the headband} and cut/staple out a headband for the "hat." For ours, I just did two long stripes, measured around my son's head and stapled the pieces together so they fit like a crown on his head. When done, set aside.
Now again, grab your apple print cutouts. Staple them in a line, going upward, together. Cut out some leaves from the green cardstock and add those to the line of apples, as well.
To finish, staple your apple "stack" to the front of the headband. Then let your child wear them with pride as you read the book together!