With every alphabet book read, every bowl of applesauce served, and every red, green, or yellow variety sliced for lunch, "A" is for apple, a child's most recognized fruit. Apples are begged for and bobbed for, sliced, diced, peeled, polished, and most especially offered to the teacher. Share these activities with the children to get them familiar with this healthy and tasty fruit.
There is So Much to Learn About Apples
Dissecting an apple is an easy science project to do that teaches children about fruit in general. On a sheet of paper, write the words leaf, stem, flesh, core, seeds, and skin. Take half of an apple and ask the group to look at it carefully; ask questions such as: "Does the apple have a stem or leaf? If it doesn’t have a stem, can you find the place where the stem was? What color is the skin on this apple? Can you name the different colors of apples? What color is the flesh of the apple? Where is the apple core? What is in the core? How many seeds are there?" Now, bring out the paper and crayons and have the children draw this apple half and help them label it.
Apple Tree Craft
Draw a tree on a sheet of white paper. Invite the children to color the tree trunk brown and the treetop green. Help young children dip their thumbs into red paint and print their thumbprints on the tree to represent growing apples. Below is a poem to write under the tree.
These are special apples
hanging on this tree.
I made them with my finger prints
they are a part of me!
(Author Unknown)
Apple Stamping
Apple stamps are great on T-shirts, hats, tote bags, pillowcases, book covers, or just artwork. Slice the apple in half, and blot the cut side on a paper towel to absorb the juice. Apply paint to the apple's cut side with a brush. Test the apple stamp on scrap paper to determine how hard to press and see how much paint to use. Reload the paint and press the apple stamp onto the real surface.To finish, paint on green leaves, a black stem, and seeds with a fine tip brush. Use tempera paint on paper and fabric paints for any washable surface.
The way the apple is cut determines the print made. If the apple is cut horizontally across the core, there is a hidden star in the middle. Count the seeds together for simple math.
Apple Granny
Many grandmothers like to make apple pies.Children will delight making this image of a sweet, old Apple Granny. Take a white paper plate and cut off half of the rimmed edge (this is Granny's bonnet). Paint or color the hat green (or color the child desires). Color the face and add facial features, including big cheeks (use round construction paper circles or stickers). Cotton balls can be glued on for hair. Cut out a cardboard collar and cover this with printed paper or fabric for her dress. This "granny" can be used as a puppet, stapling a cardboard strip on the back or attaching a craft stick to manipulate.
Apple Smile Treat
Cut the apples into wedges. Smear peanut butter on one side of two wedges. Stick a few miniature marshmallows on the peanut butter on one of the apple wedges and top with the other apple wedge, peanut butter side down. This treat looks like a smile (the red part of the apple are the lips and the marshmallows are the teeth). Children will be smiling too after they taste this delicious snack.
There are so many ways to use an apple with early childhood children; as these ideas are only a few. Think about a class outing that takes students right to the source; an orchard where children can pick apples from trees (if available locally). Learning about apples can be done today or any day of the year.
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