APPLE SCIENCE ACTIVITIES FOR LITTLE LEARNERS

Apples are a huge hit in our house…apple slices, applesauce, apple juice and, of course, apple pie.  It was no surprise that our apple science and math activities this past week were a success, too.

Apple Science Read Aloud

We began our apple fun by reading the book How Do Apples Grow? by Betsy Maestro. This book has too much text for Grayson right now, so we only read certain parts of the book, scanned others and looked at all of the pictures.

I suggest reading the book first to see what is appropriate for your learners.  This is a great way to model ‘reading the pictures‘ and ‘reading the words’ for little ones.

Parts of an Apple

The book was great to help us learn about our own apples as we dissected them, talked about the different parts, and the different types of apples.

The life cycle of an apple allowed us to discuss how it grows and continues to grow because the seeds create new apple trees.   We also talked about how the skin protects the apple.   From rotting, the seeds getting taken by birds or other animals and how that would prevent more trees from growing.

Apple Life Cycle

Then, Grayson made his Apple Life Cycle wheel.  He colored the sections, the cover, we cut out the pages and attached them with a brad…and DONE!!!

A super cute and easy science activity to help him remember the life cycle of an apple!

Apple Snack

After all the fun apple learning it was time for an apple snack, I love how he looks at his apple a little bit differently after learning how it grew to be so yummy! 

If you are completing these activities in the classroom this would be a great time to have the students vote for their favorite apple and create an apple graph.

Apple Investigation

Next up, some apple investigation!  Grayson picked an apple to investigate and we got started.

A Little Science and A Little Math

The purpose of this investigation was to help Grayson understand that everyday objects, including apples, are more than a fruit we eat with lunch.  They are mass that has different sizes, colors, some are heavier, some lighter and they all have different properties.  As, ‘little’ scientists, if we look close enough we might see something we wouldn’t have seen before…which was our goal for the activity! 

He began by drawing a picture of his apple and labeling the color of the apple he chose.  And he was very particular about choosing a yellow that matched the best!  Yep, he’s my son! 😉

Apple Measurement

Next, it was time to weigh how heavy his apple was.  The alphabet dice from Lakeshore Learning was perfect to balance his apple even though the last couple were a little bit tricky.

This allowed us to use our skills of observation to determine if it was more balanced one way or the other.  We decided to take one dice out, and it was time to count.

Then we grabbed some yarn to measure the circumference of the apple.  We discussed how circumference measured the size around our apple.  Grayson and I worked together to measure and I let him cut the yarn as I held it in place…I was only slightly terrified.  Finally, he glued the yarn in place on his investigation page.

The last activity was one of Grayson’s favorites…we cut the apple open and counted the seeds.  He was able to glue the seeds down and did a great job using small dots of glue.

After gluing the last seed, we were done with our apple science for the day…no matter how much he requested more (Kynlee might have taken a bite out of all the other apples…haha).

All About Apples

You can find an updated apple thematic unit that includes the resources from this post and so much more.  Click on the image below or here to grab your own unit now!