This is part of my 15 Minute Focus series of STEM learning activities that can be done with a small group of four-year-olds gathered around a table.

Like many preschools, we do a September theme that includes a focus on apples, so I wanted to do an apple science day. I compared apples and peaches, but instead of a peach you could do the same activity with a pear or an orange or whatever you have.

Objectives: children will be able to list three colors of apples, and describe some differences between a peach and an apple

Supplies: pretend apples and pear, 3 apple magnets / pictures – red, yellow, and green. one real apple (a reddish yellow one, so it’s sort of close in color to the peach) and one real peach, crayons, knife, cutting board; paper towels or hand wipe; a book about apples, 1 paper per person, with a 6 square grid drawn on, one column labelled apple and one labelled peach

Apple	Peach

Ask: what color are apples? After they answer, put out the three magnets/pictures to show

Put out pretend apples (this will give kids who need that something to hold onto). Ask everyone to draw a picture of an apple in the box that says apple.

Show pretend pear? Same? Different?

Show the real apple and the real peach. Same? Different? Draw peach.

Ask what color they think the fruit is on the inside. Ask how many seeds they think each fruit has. Write the guess in the two columns of the middle row

Cut open peach to show its color and its pit. Cut open apple, notice color, – count seeds. Slice apple and peach, and have them draw pictures of an apple slice and a peach slice in the final row.

Then serve. They eat slices while you read the book. [note: you could get three different kinds of apples, 1 red, 1 yellow and one green and incorporate a taste test here]

Related Books to read:

• Apples and Pumpkinsby Anne Rockwell. (Video preview.) Simple book that features fall themes like apple picking, jack-o-lantern carving, and trick or treat.
• Apple Farmer Annie by Monica Wellington. (Video preview.) Talks about apple picking, counting, sorting, baking, and selling at a farmer’s market.
• How to Bake an Apple Pie by Reagan. (Video Preview) A nice little story about picking apples and baking a pie with grandpa.

Note: the links in the titles take you to a book description on Amazon – if you order on Amazon, I get a small bonus. But you can also check your local library or independent book seller. The videos are just for you to preview which book to get – I don’t recommend using videos in a class.

Song to Sing:

Apple Tree – [Video of tune and gestures]
Way up high in the apple tree.
Two little apples smiled  at me.
I shook that tree just as hard as I could.
Down came the apples
and mmm they were good.

Or [to the tune of Clementine, video here]
Picked an apple, picked an apple,
That was growing in the sun,
Then I washed it, and I ate it,
Then I picked another one.