KINDERGARTEN MATH, SCIENCE, AND ART WITH APPLES

It’s that time of year again—fall! That means we have apples falling by the bucket load in my backyard.

A few years ago, I took a bunch of apples to school to cut up for snacks. My kindergarteners loved them. The next day, I had apples from a different tree in my yard. They were more tart. Naturally, my students had many opinions about the apples.

Some preferred the sour apples, some said they weren’t sweet enough, and some said the tart ones were only good without the skin. On and on it went. I realized I could do something with this—a project!

Here are a few things we did:

Apple Tasting:

​I set up a tasting of apples. Next to each paper plate was a name card of the type of apple. I cut up enough slices of each kind for all students to try if they wanted. After, they drew their favorite apple in their science notebooks. I made a chart so they could "vote" for their favorite. We later tallied each name to count the totals.

Applesauce:

​We made applesauce using my crockpot. Volunteers measured quantities of the ingredients. Everyone who wanted to help had a job. (Here’s a great crockpot recipe.)

Apple Prints:

We observed the insides of the apples. There are many important parts, including the seeds. Then we used them as stamps with paint. They made artwork to take home. We also used fabric paint to create a class quilt.

I don't think a project has to be huge. Sometimes, the best projects are simply inspired by class conversations.