Apple Math Fun in Preschool – Tasting and Graphing Apples

I’m incredibly excited to team up with some wonderful mamas and teachers for weekly #playfulpreschool fun! Each week, we’ll be sharing ideas for themed preschool lesson plans. To kick start this collaboration, we’re focusing on a preschool apple theme. My contribution is apple math activities focused on apple taste testing, graphing, and sorting.

apple taste test and apple math

Materials
Apples – red delicious, granny smith, yellow delicious
Construction paper
Washable tempera paint – red, yellow, green
Glass beads – red, yellow, green

Taste Test
I love taste-testing apples with my preschoolers! It’s a great way to integrate real, meaningful learning in a fun way. The kiddos get to use all of their senses to explore the apples, which jump starts so much learning.

Have the children try green apples (granny smith), red apples (red delicious), and yellow apples (yellow delicious). Encourage them to try at least one bite of each. My preschoolers usually gobble up all of the apples after the taste test, so the leftovers make a great snack. Once everyone has tried the apples, take a quick poll to determine each child’s favorite apple.

If you’re working with just one or two kids, perhaps they could poll their friends and family members. This way, there will be more information to graph and learn from.

Graphing
For this activity, have the children use their favorite apple to paint apple prints! Cut a red apple, a green apple, and a yellow apple in half. Those who like green apples paint the green half with green paint, then stamp it onto a white piece of paper. Have the other children do the same with the red and yellow apple halves.

Once the apple prints are dry, cut the apple prints out. Some children might be interested in cutting their own prints out, too. Make sure each child has an apple print representative of her favorite apple!

Write color words on construction paper, then place the words on the top of a pocket chart (or a large piece of paper). Have each child come up and add his apple in the appropriate place. During this time, get the conversation started – “We have 6 red apples so far. I wonder how many more will be added. What do you think?”

Once the graph has been fully assembled, get the kiddos involved in analyzing it! My students are generally VERY happy to talk about the class apple graph. If that’s not the case with your children, ask some thoughtful questions. Some examples:

• How many apples are under red/green/yellow? What does that mean?
• Which kind of apples are the most liked? Which are liked the least?
• What else do you notice about our apple graph?
• How many more apples are under red?

If you and the children aren’t up for painting, you can use glass jewels to graph the favorite apples!

The Learning
This apple math activity packs in a lot of learning for preschoolers! Below are some points touched upon:

• Exploration of apples through the 5 senses
• Descriptive vocabulary
• Counting
• Comparing more and less
• One-to-one correspondence (especially if you add numbers to your graph)
• “Reading” graphs and making observations
• Vocabulary about comparisons (more, less, equal, same, most, least)

#playfulpreschool Apple Theme
As I mentioned earlier, I’m so excited to share themed preschool lessons each week with the Playful Preschool team!

Plan your learning week with Preschool Apple Theme Activities from the Playful Preschool Education Team:

SOCIAL STUDIES From Orchard to Table. Watch and Make  at The Educators’ Spin On It SCIENCE Examining Apple Parts, How Does It Grow, Sink/Float at Little Bins For Little Hands MUSIC & MOVEMENTApple Hop at Learning 2 Walk MATH Counting Apples with Preschoolers: Real-Life Math at Life Over C’s Apple Math Fun in Preschool – Tasting and Graphing Apples at Fun-A-Day WRITING Scented Playdough Pre-Writing Activity at Preschool Toolbox LITERACY Alphabet Activity: Apple Tree Letter Matching at Mom Inspired LifeAlphabet Learning: Apple Stamping at Growing Book by Book Apple-Bet Match : Matching Lowercase with Upper Case Letters at Tiny Tots Adventures SENSORY Applesauce Dough for Sensory Play at Still Playing School COOKING How to Make Homemade Apple Pie – Cooking with Preschoolers at Powerful Mothering SCIENCE Apple Oxidation Experiment at Raising Lifelong Learners CRAFT Paper Plate Apple Craft at The Kennedy Adventures

For more apple-y goodness, check out my other apple posts and follow my Apple Theme Pinterest board.

What apple math fun will you get up to this month? Have you taste tested apples and graphed the results before? I’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments below!