Downstairs: Apples & More

Since our apple picking field trip, we have been exploring apples in all different ways.  We have also been embracing all aspects of fall, making art with leaves, enjoying our first fire, tending to our farmer’s market, and preparing our masks for the parade next week.  We even made time to make a quick trip to the stars :)  Take a tour of our indoor and outdoor spaces to see what’s been happening!

We received a new piece of classroom equipment in the mail recently - an indoor/outdoor sensory table!  This week, we explored water and apples with the use of tools - eyedroppers, spoons, pie pans, and scoopers.  Friends were busy scrubbing and counting apples.  Cooking ideas emerged and we started recording the children's "recipes."  Click through the slideshow to see more.

We have also been apple printing, using apples cut in half circumferentially and ink pads of different colors.  Combined with colored sharpies, some of our apple prints have been turning into different objects and characters, leading us to create stories.  

Apples even made an appearance in the block area, inspiring children to create ramps to sort and deliver apples of different colors into their own pie pans.

Finally, we used a large delivery of apples from the farm to make applesauce, which will be the Fungi Friends' contribute to the Harvest Feast in November.  We took turns peeling the apples, coring and slicing the apples, and dicing the apples, using special equipment, visible in the photo above.  All that hard work made us hungry, and we were able to taste apple "spaghetti," the strips left after peeling the apple.  After cooking our apples over the fire, we returned the next day to mill our applesauce.  Then, we got a special "chef's taste" by eating a spoonful of our creation!