Experiencing Apples

I’ve done lots of apple-themed activities in the past with my kids, and wasn’t really planning on doing much with apples this fall. Sometimes I forget that though I’ve done these “apple” events and activities over and over again, my littlest ones really haven’t. God must have known that my littles needed some apple experiences this fall!

On a recent fall weekend, my 4 youngest children and I had the day to ourselves. I decided we should get out and visit our local museum. I totally forgot it was apple-festival day there! We walked in to apple-activities galore and my kids thought I planned this. I love it when that happens. :)

One of the first activities the girls came across was making homemade apple cider using an old cider press. It was hard work smashing up those apples!

We got to taste our own batch of apple cider too.

Next we moved on to the apple-tasting table. My 3-year old was so shocked that they were letting her eat apples! The presenter shared facts about each type of apple and then they voted for their favorite apple.

Not only did they get to taste apples, they got to eat apple pie too! Boy was it delicious! Yes, we came on the right day!

The girls had the opportunity to guess how many apples were in the basket. It warmed my heart and made me smile when they told me their guesses. My 3-year old told me there were 5 apples. My 4.5yr. old said some unreasonable number like 2,000.

We also spent some time visiting the apple orchard store where they have a huge apple-cider press. We walked along the garden paths and totally enjoyed this unplanned apple experience. Thanks God for this special memory!

Just in case you are curious to what we’ve done in the past, you can find several apple-themed printables and activities in my archives.

  Apple Tree Number Match

Apple Pattern Cards

Apple Activities Blog Post 2010
Letter A Activities Post 2010 (Apple-themed finger-play)

Apple Tree Number Match

Today I was cleaning through some old files when I came across this felt tree set I had made for my oldest daughter several years ago (I'm afraid to admit how many--lol!) This ended up being a great activity to do with my 3yr. old daughter today.

I traced tree tops onto green felt and tree trunks onto brown felt. Then I numbered the tree tops and trunks. Next I had my daughter match the numbers.

Then we worked together putting the trees in numerical order.

Next we placed pom-pom "apples" on the tree to match the numbers.

Another extension would be to have an apple shape and use position words such as:
"Place the apple behind the number two tree" or "Place the apple on top of the number 3 tree" etc.

I created two options for this activity: 1) print the trees onto cardstock or 2) trace onto felt. Both are included in the download.

Here's a download I made last year that would also go perfectly with an apple theme.

 And here's an apple collage we did last year which was posted at 3 Boys and a Dog

Graphing Apples in OpenOffice

(click photo to see full-size)

I want to thank those of you who participated in our informal apple survey. Today I had my 9yr. old son tally the results and make a graph in Open Office. It looks like Golden Delicious apples were the winner.

Lately I have been looking at ways to integrate technology into our curriculum. Truth be told, I'd rather they were rarely on the computer, but that's just not going to happen in my house. They see me on the computer all the time. They know I blog, Tweet, Facebook, digital scrap and write articles. My husband is in an IT related field as well, so he's on the computer often. Computers are a big part of our lives. My goal is to show them how to responsibly use technology, and to use it for learning, not just to keep them busy. I previously wrote about how we are starting to integrate digital scrapbooking into their schooling. I realized that I haven't been teaching them any word processing/database skills. Other than typing and playing educational/Webkinz games, they haven't been using much technology, and they haven't been using it as a tool for showing what they have learned.

So today's graphing lesson was intentional. We needed to review graphing skills and I wanted my son to learn how to create a table using OpenOffice. Combining the two created a great thinking activity. He first had to sketch out the graph on paper and record the results from my blog. Then we worked together to create his sketch on the computer. I taught him how to set up the table, add color, add columns, merge cells and change fonts. He loved working on the computer (I knew he would which is why I started with him--lol). In fact, after the graphing assignment, he stayed in OpenOffice and wrote a play! His idea! The boy who earlier that day was giving me grief about just filling in answers for a personal writing exercise wrote a mini-play.

So do you use technology with your schooling? (Technology can be more than computers--video recorders, Ipods, etc.) To what extent? Certain ages? Any great ideas on how to use technology at home to promote learning? I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject.

This and That

I've been working on a couple never-ending projects(or so it seems) this week. I still can't get my school room/supplies organized to where I feel inspired to teach. My biggest problem is figuring out how to store units in progress and supplements to our curriculum. Right now I have organized stacks of stuff all over the floor. I have some in Sterilite bins, which are working great, except I need something to house them all. That's what I need to figure out ASAP. If you have any organizational ideas I'd love to hear them.

I also created a list of ideas of things/activities to include in toddler workboxes. It's getting so long that I might actually break it down into separate articles. We'll see. :)

We're still working on apple things. Here's a super cute Apple counting file folder game from Mama Jenn. I plan on making it for my daughter.

ABC Teach has some apple printables---we're using the survey form and the shape book.

I also had many other apple resources and a printable in the post: Everything Apples

Jimmie had a really good post about Crafts and the CM Method. She always has such insightful blog posts.

Oh, and that cute little stinker---how she looks in that picture is how I feel-- a big mess! :)

Apple Craft

One of my favorite parts of the end of summer/beginning of fall is enjoying apples. As I mentioned before, I'm working on an apple unit with my 2 1/2 yr. old and 7yr. old (and certain activities the older ones join in too). Oh and if you click on the link above, could you please answer our informal apple survey? My kids will be compiling the results later this week :)

Here's a peek at one activity we recently did together. To see the rest check out my guest post at 3 Boys and a Dog.

Everything Apples

I know it's been pretty quiet here on my blog lately, but believe me I've been working on some things to share with you! We've started working on an apple unit and are having a blast! I planned the unit for my DD#2 and figured my DD#3 could tag along with some of the stories too. I've created a couple of toddler activities to go along with what DD#2 is doing too. I've been surprised though that the older kids wanted to join in the fun too. So now we all are doing apple activities!

Here are some of the resources we are using:

Apples:
Apple Trees and Apple Blossoms-great info. by Evelyn Saenz

Apples to Oregon unit from Homeschool Share

How to Make Apple Pie and See the World Unit from Homeschool Share

The Apple Pie Tree Unit from Homeschool Share

Johnny Appleseed:
Unit by Naturegirl 7

Mini-Unit and Lapbook from Homeschool Share

Misc. Apple Stuff:
Preschool Apple File folder game from Homeschool Share

Apple Tree Math Mat from Homeschool Share

Apple Pie Recipe by Aunt Opal from All Recipes.com

I spent some time last week photographing apples and I'm pretty proud of my attempt! I definetly won't be moving into food photography anytime soon though ;)I did however, enjoy using those images to create toddler apple pattern cards. DD#3 has been working on learning apple colors, so I thought she'd enjoy practicing using the apple cards. If you'd like a copy too, just click the photo.

Next week I'll have a guest post showcasing one of our toddler apple activities. My 2 1/2 year old and I had so much fun putting it together. I can't wait to share it with you. :)

Oh, my kids are doing an informal survey and would love to know what your favorite apple is. We'd love if you'd post your answer in the comment section :)

McIntosh
Red Delicious
Golden Delicious
Granny Smith
Jonathan
Gala
Fuji
Winesap
Cortland