Can you count the colors of apples? Red, green, yellow.
Apples symbolize this season and offer many opportunities to share experiences with your child. Baked, pureed, sliced, or raw- whatever your favorite way to enjoy them is, do it now while reading these great books!
After reading these books enjoy some great sensory activities based on apples. If it isn't too late where you live, go apple picking. As you pick, compare the different shapes and colors of the leaves and the apples, the height of the trees, the texture of the bark on the trees, and the sizes of different varieties of apples. If your child loses interest that is OK- you can pick while they explore the trees and ground around the apples. If it's too late for apple picking, like it is here in Washington, go to your Farmer's Market or grocery store to pick out a variety of apples.
Once you are home with your apples, taste each kind and compare how tart or sweet they are. Does size or color seem to make a difference? Do they smell different? Are some softer than others?
Let you kids peel and slice apples (use pumpkin carving knives or child proof knives with supervision, of course!) to make applesauce or pie. Let your child use a hand blender to puree the sauce once the apples are soft (my 12-year-old says this is the best part)! Then savor your tasty creations! Both you and your child will love this activity, and the memories will warm the fall weather for years to come!
As a young girl, Harriet Tubman would wash and polish apples for her master, but she was not allowed to eat any. However, once she escaped slavery and bought her own home she planted apples and shared them with all. A great read for introducing the topic of slavery, race, and sharing.
In this sweet book, a father makes an apple pie for this daughter with the help of animals. The story builds on itself starting with the pie and ending with a picnic eating the pie in a tree. Each step of the story details what it took for the apples to grow and end up in a pie. Gorgeous illustrations create a warm and cozy atmosphere as you read this book.
While visiting a farm, a little girl picks apples and searches for the perfect pumpkin. Simple text and bright illustrations capture the mood of the seasons! The perfect read before you own adventure to the apple farm or pumpkin patch!
A little boy plants an apple tree and nurtures it as it grows. However, the little tree grows discouraged as it does not bear fruit in its first season. The boy offers encouragement by tying an apple onto one of the tree's branches. As the tree grows older it remembers this act of kindness and how it showed the boy's love for it.
One of my favorite series of books! This book isn't only about apples, but will help children learn the family of plants that apples belong in. Simple text with interesting facts added to each page allows it to be read to toddlers through kindergarteners. See-thorough pages allow readers to see inside things, and brings them to life. Read the book, and then cut an apple in half (through the middle, not the stem) to look at the star inside.
Another one of my favorite books! A girl wants to make an apple pie which seems simple as long as you have the right ingredients but when you and the local grocer don't, it involves a trip around the world. Explore where all the ingredients we use in apple pie come from then make your own. Sample each ingredient to see what it tastes like allow; once the pie is baked see if you can taste each ingredient in the pie. How do they blend? A great conversation starter on the benefits of working together!
Hope you find these books tasteful (sorry, couldn't resist!). As always, feel free to share, with credit to Words Reflected and Kim Bogren Owen, on Facebook, your website, or if you are an Early Childhood program, in your newsletter. Add your own apple related book recommendations in the comments since we can never have too many books!
(This blog uses the Amazon affiliate program so when you click on the title and purchase through Amazon, you are supporting us! If you don't purchase through these links, please, be sure to support your local, independent bookstore or find them at your library!)