Learning about Apples ~ week 1

Turbo likes to be intrigued. He is very curious and if I can excite that part of him…then we’re sure to have some fun. Part of that is, anticipation.  I had this Five Senses chart out when he woke up. He immediately wanted to know what it was, what it said and what we were doing with it.  I casually said it was for our preschool and he’d find out after Breakfast.  That piqued his curiosity!

Then it was time to get started!  We started with calendar time, post on that coming soon.  Then I grabbed a closed brown paper bag, hiding an apple (another point of anticipation), and went to the 5 senses chart.  

We reviewed the 5 senses and then Turbo got to stick his hand in the bag and guess what was in there. I was a little surprised that he easily guessed apple!  We first went through the 5 senses with the apple whole (reminding him not to bite it yet about 10 times). When we got to Taste, he said "Mommy, I have to bite it now" with a huge smile.  We went through all 5 senses twice, once before tasting (responses above the line) and once after (responses below). This was a very interesting exercise. I learned about him and was really proud of his thoughfulness.

General Learning ~ Apple Types;  Similarities / Differences & Parts
As he was eating his prize, we did some General Apple education. He examined several types: Fuji, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith and Braeburn.  We talked about the similarities - apples, have the same parts, grow from seeds, grow on trees, etc. Then the differences of outside appearance and inside taste.  Finally, we cut open and examined the insides and learned all the parts.  It was reinforced throughout the week with a little felt apple puzzle.

Grouping: 
He grouped apples by type, color and size. This was really easy for him. Next time we'll do graphing along with it.

Taste Test ~ Of course we had to taste and compare all these different apples. I didn't get a picture for some reason. Maybe because we both LOVED this part of the day.  My favorite continues to be the Granny Smith and Braeburn. Turbos were "all of them".

Sequencing ~ Sequenced the eating of an apple. Very, very difficult for Turbo. We did it together and he was happy it was over.  We should have used real apples and taken bites out of each of them. It would have given it more meaning ~ but I didn't think of it until just now.  Sadly, I can't remember right now where I got the sequencing cards. I will update my post when I find it.  Found the cards at Kidssoup.com

Art/Crafts
He colored in the "I like Apples" booklet. After we're done with apples, I'll make a little lapbook for us to review and remember this fun theme.

Apple Prints

Playdough
A wonderful blogger over at Counting Coconuts has some great Playdough ideas! She also did Fall this month and did Cinnamon Playdough with little apples and let her little one make apple pies. It was a HUGE hit over here. 

 

Books: 
We read Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall ~ love her books  & 10 Red Apples by Pat Hutchins  We did this pocket chart activity for 10 Red Apples.  We start with 10 apples on the tree. When we got to 7, Turbo announced he was almost done. When we got to 5, he looked at me and said - "I get it. Can I be done now?" Uh, ok.  We won't be doing these types of counting activities again.  Cute activity ~ just not a good fit.

 Spoon Transferring Apples

  

That's the bulk of what we did on this short week.   Stay Tuned for week 2!

I'm linking up to Preschool Corner. Check it out for more great Preschool Ideas!