Posted by: Trina | September 29, 2011

* This article was written by Sandy HAPPYFAMILY's Sales Manager

One of my favorite things about September is that it’s the beginning of apple picking season.  There’s just something about eating an apple that you picked that makes it taste so much better than the ones you buy at the grocery store.  Maybe it’s that whole “work for your food” idea, or maybe it’s just knowing how fresh it is—you don’t get much more “farm to table” than picking an apple yourself and slicing it up for a quick snack later.  Either way, spending a day apple picking is a great escape from the busy city and a fun activity to do with the whole family.  I always come home with bags of apples and no less than 5 new recipes for various apple pies, tarts, and ciders.  And despite my ambitious recipes and sincere intentions of becoming a culinary apple genius, every year, I still end up with extra apples (and a little guilt for over-picking.)

A few years ago, when I was teaching Pre-K, I had an “ah ha!” moment for what to do with my extra apples: apple prints.  Apple prints are a great art activity for young children.  They get to explore a familiar fruit, learning where apples come from and talking about the different colors that apples can come in, and these apple prints make a piece of art perfect for the refrigerator.

Here is what you will need for your apple prints:

• 2-3 apples per child you’re working with (preferably in different colors)
• 1 grown up knife (and plastic kids knives, too, if you want to get your child to practice cutting, which has the added benefit of strengthening fine motor skills.)
• Paper plates
• Paper towels
• Paint – I like using red, green, and yellow to represent all of the different colors of apples.
• Paper – either construction paper or white paper – this is your canvas!

Preparation:

Pour each paint color into its own paper plate.  Place a paper towel over the paint and let it soak up the color.  This creates a stamp pad for your apples.

Directions:

• Take the first apple and cut it in half through the stem.  Show the children you’re working with the inside of the apple.  Let the kids touch it and explore.  You can ask questions to aid in exploration like, “what does it feel like/smell like/look like?”  If you are having the kids cut their own apples, you can then pass out the plastic knives and let them try to cut.  (I recommend modeling a “sawing motion” as a good way to safely cut through the apple with such a dull knife.)

• Take each half of the apple and dip in two different colors.  Demonstrate how the apple becomes a stamp by stamping it onto the paper.  Let the children try on their own piece of paper.

• Take the second apple and cut it in half through the middle of the apple (not the stem.)  Let children explore the difference between how the inside of this apple looks and how the inside of the other apple looks.  Dip the apple in paint and stamp it, modeling how this apple has a different shape than the others.

• Work together to create your own, original apple prints!  I recommend experimenting with color and/or shape patterns, too.

• While you’re waiting for them to dry, snack on some extra apple slices.  Add peanut butter or sun butter for an extra treat!

GUEST BLOGGER

Sandy holds a B.A. in Political Science from Tulane University in New Orleans, LA and an M.S.T. in Early Childhood Education from Pace University in New York, NY.  After graduating with honors from Tulane, she joined Teach For America in New York City, where she taught Pre-K in the South Bronx.  As a former Pre-K teacher, Sandy understands how crucial the earliest years of Baby’s life are to her physical, social/emotional, and cognitive development. She uses her knowledge base to contribute to all aspects of HAPPYBABY's rapid growth as well.