It promotes vocabulary development, general knowledge acquisition, and positive interpersonal relationships. It's flexible with respect to number of players and time it takes to learn, and to play. Students learn while they play and they really do enjoy Apples to Apples-it's fun!

Educational Support Staff: Social Workers and School Psychologists use the Apples game with student groups. It breaks down barriers and helps students become comfortable with each other. It has also been used in sessions for parents on parenting skills-as an example of a family activity which promotes communicating in a non-threatening environment.

Special Education-Learning Disabilities: Apples to Apples is a great game for students who have difficulty with tasks that require reading, but still need to be challenged intellectually. It offers many opportunities for creativity and higher level thinking skills.

Special Education-Speech and Language: The Apples cards can be used as flash cards for students working on speech and language development.

English as a Second Language: The Apples to Apples Junior games are perfect for students who are learning English. A teacher can preview the card set and remove any cards that might not be appropriate for the language level of the students. Because of the discussions that take place as part of the judging, students have opportunities to ask questions and learn about the meaning of words. The synonyms on the green Apple cards also help students develop their vocabulary.

After school Programs: Apples to Apples is a great game for after school and recreational programs. Students with a wide range of interests and experience can all play together. In fact, the more diverse the group, the more interesting the game.

Young Learners: Because the red card titles are nouns and the green cards are adjectives and adverbs, the cards can be used for language arts. The words make great sentence starters. For example, select one green card and two red and make a sentence using the words. The red cards can be sorted by categories or by characteristics. The green apple cards also provide synonyms for each word making them particularly good for vocabulary development. They're great for demonstrating the multiple meanings of words, and the subtle difference in meanings.

Older Learners: Apples to Apples is based on comparing and on decision-making. Older students can use their verbal skills to explain the basis of their decision-making. They can also develop their own Apples cards, using the MyCard program and custom cards. These cards can be based on curriculum content. For example, they could select, from a history unit, persons, places, and things, that would make good red Apple cards. Then they write the "flavor text" for the card. The flavor text would provide a short, concise description. The cards could be added to the game and used as a study aid.