It’s apple season! September is a wonderful month filled with images of cool days, apple cider and playing in the leaves. For my family it is apple picking season. We normally go at least once a season but this season we lucked out! My daughter has volleyball practice near an apple orchard so my other children and I will be visiting the orchard a few more times this year. I think the donuts and cider are my son’s favorite part. My daughter’s love to munch on the apples and go home to make apple pie. Apple orchards make lovely teaching grounds as well. Take a field trip this year and maybe the following activities will help you have a great time.
Apple Stamping: Cut your apples in half and dip in acrylic paint then stamp on heavy duty paper. If you cut them so the “star” or seeds show you will have fun pictures.
Apple Tasting: Apple orchards are filled with fall scents, colors and flavors. Have your child pick out some apples she has never tried along with some old favorites. When you get home cut them up in cubes and start apple tasting. You can ask categorize them by sweet, tart, crunchy, soft, etc.
Apple Baking: Get out your favorite apple pie recipe and allow your child to help bake a pie. Have your child measure out the ingredients, follow the directions, and even point out letters or sight words on the recipe card.
Apple Book: A nice way to help a child remember and sequence events is to draw what she did that day. Have her chronicle her day by drawing her apple orchard adventure. In addition, you can have her label her drawings or write some sentences and bind them together with a stapler or in a binder to make an Apple Orchard Day book.
Food Play: HABA’s Pretend Food Toys