Learning about apples lesson plan

Let’s learn about apples with this apple lesson plan, apple investigation, and easy apple recipes.  

 

 

Learning about apples lesson plan and printable

 

QUICK RESOURCE >> Download our ready-made Apples Unit here  

 

Use this guide to host an apple lesson in your forest school or garden classroom. We’ll think about how they grow, how we use them, and what they look like. You can use your nature journals to record what you discover about apples.  

In this lesson you can:

:: learn how apples grow and how they are pollinated

:: watch a video of an apple harvest

:: investigate what’s inside an apple, using all your senses

:: record your finding in a printable nature journal page

:: try some easy apple recipes to taste these delicious autumn fruits

Download our ready-made Apples Unit here  

 

 

 

What are apples ?

Apples are fruits which are ripe and ready to be eaten in the autumn.

Apples are members of the rose family, and have the scientific name Malus pumila.

Apple trees are deciduous, which means they drop their leaves in autumn, and new leaves appear the following spring.    

 

 

How do apples grow?

Apples grow on trees and start off from flowers.

Apple trees are covered in white blossom in spring. 

Apple trees need to have their flowers pollinated if any fruits are going to develop.

Bees and butterflies are the very important helpers here. As the bees and butterflies fly from plant to plant collecting nectar to eat, they also take pollen from one plant to another.

When pollen arrives from another plant it fertilises the egg cells in the receiving plant, and these egg cells grow into seeds. The seeds are protected inside a fruit, which grow and ripen in the autumn – and that’s the apple!

I wonder why some plants grow their seeds inside tasty apples ? Can you think of a reason why?    

 

 

How do we use apples?

The main thing we do with apples is eat them! Apples are eaten as snacks, can be cooked to make apple sauce, used in pies, and for juice to drink.

Apples are a source of vitamin C, and are good for your heart. 

Watch this video to see how an apple orchard sorts and prepares its apples ready to go to market.  (Note that this video, made by Nicko’s Kitchen, is from an orchard in Australia. Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere of the world, and so they have the opposite seasons to those of us who live in the northern part of the world. This means that when we have spring, they autumn. Listen out in the video and you’ll hear which months of the year they have their apple harvest in Australia.)

 

 

 

What’s inside an apple?

Let’s have a close up look at what’s inside an apple.  

You will need:

:: apples

::knife

:: magnifying glass (optional)

:: bowl  

 

 

 

Investigating apples

Cut your apples in half: cut some from top to bottom, and some across the middle. Then have a close look at all the parts of your fruits. You might like to use a magnifying glass to have a really close look.

Use your senses to investigate your apples. What can you see, hear, feel, smell, and taste?

Use your nature journal to record what you observe. You can sketch your apple or use photographs. You might use a video to record your exploration, or have someone note down what the children say as they investigate, to capture all their ideas.    

 

 

 

Easy apple recipes children can make

Take my apple taste test

Make this easy apple crumble recipe

Make these easy apple cookies.

 

 

Download your ready-made Apples Unit 

Download your copy of the Play Academy’s ready-made Apples Unit and you’ll have everything you need to teach an engaging set of apple lessons plans.

In our ready-made Apples Unit your children can:

:: learn about apples: how they grow, how they’re used, what they look like inside

:: take an apple taste test, making notes and drawing what you observe

:: compare apples and pumpkins using a Venn diagram method

:: make no-bake apple cookies, following a simple ‘recipe’ and using practical skills to make their own tasty snack

:: explore printmaking techniques and create apple print bunting to decorate your class/home

Bonus Apple thematic unit printables

The Play Academy’s thematic units come with practical printables that make the lessons more engaging for your children and easier for you to teach.

No need to go searching for printables to accompany your lessons, they’re all included when you download your chosen unit.

In this Apples Unit you’ll receive these bonus printables:

:: an Apple Taste Test printable that you can use to guide your apple observation and taste test, using words and illustration to compare and contrast a selection of apples. You can use this printable as a journal page or make it into a mini book

How to download this Apples thematic unit

You can download this unit along with over 50 more from NurtureStore’s Play Academy.

If you are already of the Play Academy, you can download this unit straight away from our Library here.

If you are not yet a member, find out more and choose your first unit here. Your teaching is about to get a whole lot easier!