We’ve been having a lot of fun with our apple unit for kindergarten this past week.
Along with reading plenty of fun apple picture books, we’ve enjoyed a variety of apple activities for kids, including plenty of fun math and science.
After a recent trip to the grocer we headed home for a bit of delicious apple tasting activity.
We all agreed, this fun apple sensory activity was the most delicious one yet.
Apple Tasting Activity
To do your own apple tasting activity, you will want a variety of fresh apples. Try Honey Crisp, Gala, Granny Smith, and Red Delicious, to name just a few.
Start by looking at the different varieties and discussing their different colors and sizes.
Have your child make a hypothesis about which apple will be the sweetest, the most tart, and which will be the crunchiest. If you want to get serious, have your child write down their guesses so you can compare them later to your results.
Next, carefully use a knife to slice into your first apple. Place your apple pieces into a bowl and use a small notecard to label the bowl so you know which apple variety it is.
Do this with each of your apples.
Now for the fun part… Time to sample all the apples!
As you taste each apple, ask your child to describe it.
- What color is it? Red? Light green? Pink?
- Is it sweet? Tart?
- Is it very crunchy? A little soft?
- How does it smell?
While your child describes the apples, write down their answers. (For older children you can have them record the results all on their own.)
You can stop there, and see how close your child’s earlier hypothesis was about which would be the crunchiest, sweetest, etc.
Or, take your apple sensory activity a bit further and choose two to compare in a Venn diagram.
Simply draw two large circles that overlap on paper or a white board. You can also find pre-made Venn diagrams online you can print out.
Choose two apples to compare, and label each circle with one type of apple.
Then write down words that describe each apple in the correct circle. Things the apples have in common go in the middle.
We compared Granny Smith and Red Delicious apples. My first grader was able to use our descriptions we had written down earlier to fill in her chart.
We had so much fun with this simple apple tasting activity. It’s definitely one of our favorite fall sensory activities.
More apple activities:
Leslie says
What a fun post. I love Gala and granny smith’s. They’re my favorite. I don’t even have to cover them in caramel. Haha. Happy Tuesday!
OneMommy says
Granny Smith is one I like, too. I actually like them with a bit of lemon juice on them when we go on picnics.
Michelle Caskey says
Activities like this are fun. When my boys were younger, I did this apple tasting activity with them. I was surprised to find that one of my sons preferred the Granny Smith apples. I always go for sweet apples like Honey Crisp or Gala. 🙂
OneMommy says
The Granny Smith were pretty popular once I added some caramel! 😉
Samantha @ Stir the Wonder says
This is such a fun activity for this time of year! Thanks for linking up at the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop! We hope you come by again next week!