Apple Science! Learning Doesn’t Get Much Tastier Than This.

 

Alex Anxiously Awaits Science Time

Continuing with this week’s apple theme, today’s science lesson included 5 different types of apples, applesauce, incredibly sour apple cider from the commissary (ick!), and a bunch of excited little scientists. Learning about science doesn’t get much tastier than this!

We started our lesson with a discussion about the senses. What are they and how do they affect our lives?  The kids had all sorts of ideas and input. Well, the bigger kids anyway. Derek kept sneaking apple slices from the platters and cramming them into his mouth. It’s the idea that counts, right?

I sliced up ginger gold, red delicious, granny smith, fuji, and gala apples (the wide variety offered at our base commissary ) and set them out on labeled plates. I also poured everyone some apple cider and got baby spoons out for the applesauce. We made a chart labeling our apples. There were boxes for color, smell, texture, and taste.

We started with Ginger Gold apples. The kids couldn’t figure out why they  were called “gold” when the skin was actually green but did like the slightly sweet, slightly tart taste. Alex decided this is her new favorite. We continued with our experiment one apple variety at a time. The Granny Smith apples got a big reaction of scrunched up faces and “Eeeeeew!” from Alex and Derek.  Of course, Ethan thought they were delicious. He and the other kids are really polar opposites in all ways.  The apple cider was a bit of a shocker. I thought it would be great and Alex noted that it smelled like apple pie.  However, it was incredibly sour! Eeeew!  Ethan liked it. I guess he’ll be drinking apple cider for a while.

This experiment was fun because it engaged the kids and gave us context to discuss different descriptive words.  The kids wanted to describe everything as “good” or “bad.” We took it to a new level for them, learning to describe things as “sweet,” “sour,” “smooth,” “tart,” etc. Perhaps the most interesting description came when Alex tasted the Gala apples and described them as “Earthy grass.” I don’t think that would be a very good advertising campaign.

We were also able to practice comparing and contrasting.  We compared the colors and tastes of the apples, discussing which ones we liked most and why.  The kids said that Fuji apples are sweet, but less sweet than Red Delicious. They also decided that the cider was more sour and “more grosser” than the Granny Smith apples. 

Another bonus was that they got their fruit servings for the day!

How do you make science interesting and engaging for your kids or students?  

Bella loved joining in our science fun

This is our apple chart for recording our observations

Ethan participated today too

Derek was an apple swiper