Apples are not only a healthy snack for our little ones, but they provide an excellent learning opportunity for our children! There are endless ways to play with apples and encourage academic and overall cognitive development! Here are our top four favorite apple activities to try with your child this fall!
Apples are great for encouraging the development of pre-math skills by sorting. Start simple and sort by two colors. For older children, sort by three colors, or different types of apples. You can also add in similar fruits that are not apples to sort, such as a pear!
Sensory activities are always fun for kids and tasting is one of the most exciting! For younger children, taste the apples. This activity is great for language development as you can talk about the texture, as well as the taste, of the apple. Introduce new words such as crisp, crunch, sweet, tart, and juicy. You can also include similar fruits for your child to compare and contrast (such as a pear). For older children, peel the skin off the apple or fruit and try to have them guess which fruit they are tasting!
Time to examine the apples! Cut an apple in half and find the seeds. Count the seeds…take a close look at them! Cut the apple the other way (side to side) and see if you can find a star! Use an apple slicer to remove the core to inspect. Twist off the stem, see how many turns it takes for the stem to separate from the apple. With your supervision, for older children, give them a toddler knife and allow your child to slice the apple!
One of the most fun ways to use apples is for painting…it is also probably the most messy! Cut the apples in half, and help your child paint the fruit side to use as a stamp. Tip: You can cut a “handle” into the apple (as shown above) to make it easier for your child to stamp! Notice the shape of the apple and talk about the imprint (e.g., where were the seeds?).
