Apples

Apples are by far one of my favorite themes to use with preschoolers. What child does not like apples.
So, what do I do with them? A LOT...however, I only have these little friends for a few hours two times a week, so, I don't get to do as much as I would like to.

This year, I read various apple books that have the life cycle of an apple tree. My friends literally screamed when the flower became an apple. I seriously have little scientists this year. We did an apple rubbing using a sand paper cut out apple. A teacher in our school shared this idea with me. The children really liked feeling of the sand paper and learning that it felt "rough" and compared it to other items in the room.

My favorite thing to do is to make a "10 Apples Up On Top" book. Very simple book, and I am sure I am borrowing this idea from someone else. Each child takes turns lying on their back and I take one apple and place it "on" their head (really, it is above their head but looks sorta like on in the picture). You just keep building until the last person has Ten on top.

We graphed our apples and weighed them. This was crazy funny! I got out our balance scales and they predicted which apple would weigh the most, least, and the same. They were out of control with excitement over how the apples would fair. When one side would go down they would scream all at the exact same time. Mass hysteria or group enthusiasm?

I feel like I am on candid camera. I have never had a group of children so absolutely nutty about circle time. I can just begin to sing "Time to clean up" and they are scurrying around like squirrels under an Oak tree that just sneezed.

Squirrels are next week!