Enabling Environments: Let's explore ... Apples and pears

There are many different kinds of apples and pears in this country, and they vary in size, colour and shape, as well as taste. Children can notice and comment on all of these aspects.

The names of the varieties will intrigue children. Some may be familiar to them, such as Golden Delicious and Bramley apples and Conference and Comice pears. Some varieties may share their names, such as Jonathan, Katy and James Grieve apples and Beth and William pears. Other names they might find funny, such as Granny Smith and Pink Lady. And there are some very old country names too - the apples Cockle Pippin and Peasgood's Nonsuch, and the pears Sweet Huffcap and Thorn Hedgehog. Crabapples are wild apples, and there are different varieties of these too.

VISITS

If you can, identify an apple tree near to your setting that the children can visit in different seasons. Organise a visit to an orchard or a market, supermarket or greengrocer's shop, to investigate the apples and pears.

DISPLAY

- Set up a display of as many different varieties of apples as you can, and discuss how they differ.

- Encourage the children to sort and arrange them by kind and size.

- Talk about the different parts of the fruit: the peel, stalk, core, pips, leaves, flesh that we eat.

- Cut the fruit in half both ways, down and across, to see the patterns of the core and the pips.

- Organise tasting sessions with the children to find out which is their favourite fruit and fruit juice.

- Gather apple recipes from families and ask the children to decide which recipes to try out.

- Set up an apple bobbing activity outdoors, with apples floating in water or hanging from strings.

- Set up a similar display of pears at a later date.

Creative workshop

Provide a variety of media for children to draw and paint the fruit, including:

- soft pencils
- charcoal
- different types of paint and crayons
- brushes of different sizes, water pots, palettes
- collage materials
- glue
- paper in different sizes and types
- large paper, such as wall lining paper

ADULT ROLE

Work with the children to set up a still life. Look at posters of still life paintings by artists such as Cezanne and Gauguin.

- Cut some fruit in half and look at the patterns inside.

- Encourage children to look closely at the fruit and describe what they see. Compare the different apples, and talk about what distinguishes one from another. Some have streaks of red, some have spots of red, and some blushed areas.

- Help children find or mix colours that match, or find paper for a collage that matches.

- Focus on the shapes of the cut fruit, and how the pips lie in the centre.

- Cut apples and pears across the centre and use these to print patterns. Talk about the symmetry. An apple or pear cut downwards has mirror symmetry. Cut across, there is a star-shaped pattern where the pips sit. Match the pips to the holes; match the pattern of the print to the fruit.

- Once the children have explored drawing the fruit on their own, organise a large communal painting by spreading huge sheets of paper on the floor, where the children can paint huge pictures of apples and pears.

- Make an attractive display of the children's work.

LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
- Seeking and delighting in new experiences
- Working as part of a group
- Using talk to connect ideas
- Exploring pattern
- Noticing features of the natural world
- Creating collages, paintings and drawings
- Working creatively on a large and small scale

Science area - Provide:
- (windfall) apples and pears
- knives
- chopping boards
- potato peelers
- apple corers
- half and quarter lemons
- vinegar
- water
- magnifying glasses
- microscope
- dried apple rings and pieces of pear
- small pieces of clingfilm

ADULT ROLE

- Teach the children to use the knives safely and set rules about how to handle them and cut with them.

- Encourage them to explore cutting the fruit in different ways, including peeling, coring, chopping, digging. Talk about what they find. 'I wonder what the stalk is for. What happens to the stalk inside the apple?'; 'Let's see what's inside the core.'

- Look at the seeds with a magnifying glass.

- Plant some apple and pear seeds. Note: they will take a few weeks to germinate.

- Encourage the children to see how long it takes the flesh to begin to turn brown. Can they see the fruit turning brown as they watch? Children can try putting lemon juice on one piece the moment they have cut it, and compare this with another piece without lemon juice. They can squeeze some lemon juice in water and put some pieces of apple in, and put other pieces of apple in plain water.

- Let them experiment with vinegar to see how it affects the fruit.

- Encourage them to investigate wrapping up pieces of the fruit and to observe any changes that may occur.

- Children may notice that pieces of apple float in water. You can compare with, say, pieces of carrot, which sink. Compare with other fruit and vegetables.

- Consider providing dried apple rings for children to soak in water and see what happens. Show the children how to core apples and cut them into rings. String these apple rings on a cane and dry them.

LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
- Trying new activities
- Using a widening range of words to express or elaborate on ideas
- Showing curiosity about how things happen and why things change
- Investigating objects and materials by using all of their senses as
appropriate
- Handling tools and objects safely and with increasing control
- Exploring colour, texture, shape, form and space in two or three
dimensions

Outdoor area

Set up a market stall. The children can make labels with prices and names of apples. Provide:

- (windfall) apples and pears, or model fruit made and painted by the
children
- baskets and trays to display the fruit
- paper bags and carrier bags
- weighing scales
- labels and pens
- till, coins, cash box
- aprons for stall holders
- stall with awning
- posters of apples and pears

LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES

- Developing a sense of community

- Interacting with others, negotiating plans and activities and taking turns in conversation

- Building up a vocabulary that reflects the breadth of their experience

- Ascribing meanings to marks they make and see

- Counting up to ten everyday objects

- Using language such as 'heavier' or 'lighter'

ADULT ROLE

- Plan the fruit stall with the children, taking their ideas of what is needed, and how to set it out.

- Encourage them to invent their own names for the apples and pears they sell, and to give a name to the stall.

- Discuss the sorts of things that stallholders say to encourage customers to buy, such as 'Bargain! Cheap today!', 'Fresh off the farm!', 'Buy one, get one free!' and so on.

- Have a half-price sale to sell off everything at the end of the day.

- Show children how to swing over a paper bag containing fruit to twist the ends.

- Organise a supply of trays of apples to be wheeled over with a cart and unloaded at the back of the stall. The apples that children buy can be taken to other areas of the setting to supply other apple activities in the setting.

RESOURCE BOX
A resource box for exploring apples and pears could include:
- non-fiction books about apples and pears, with photos
- posters and pictures of apple and pear varieties
- posters of still-life pictures of apples or pears created by various
artists
- fiction books that feature apples or pears
- a range of apple and pear varieties for display and for tasting
- a range of apple and pear recipes

BOOK BOX

How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman (Dragonfly Books). Finding that the market has closed, the cook travels around the world to gather the ingredients she needs for making an apple pie.

Ten Apples Up On Top by Dr Seuss (Picture Lions). Learning to count is made fun in this tale of a dog, a lion and a tiger, all showing off how many apples they can balance on their heads as they skip, walk the tightrope and roller skate their way through the book.

The Pear Tree - An Animal Counting Book by Meredith Hooper (Macmillan Children's Books). This acts as both a counting book and a guide to the months, the seasons and the wildlife that lives in a tree. Written in the lyrical and repetitive style of the carol 'The 12 Days of Christmas', it goes from one pigeon in a pear tree to 12 closed-up snails.

The Mouse and the Apple by Stephen Butler (Frances Lincoln). Mouse is sitting expectantly under a tree where a fine, ripe apple hangs. One by one the hen, goose, goat and cow come up to look at the apple, and each tries to make it fall. Their efforts fail and so they all go home, but the mouse's patience is rewarded.

Mr Putter and Tabby Pick the Pears by Cynthia Rylant and Arthur Howard (Sandpiper). Mr Putter can't wait for the pears on his tree to ripen so he can make some delicious pear jelly. But when they do ripen, he finds his legs are bothering him and he can't climb the ladder to reach the fruit. Will a slingshot, like the one he had as a boy, do the trick?

The Story of Johnny Appleseed by Aliki (Aladdin). Retells the story of John Chapman, whose devotion to planting apple trees made him a legendary figure in American history.

The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons (Voyager Paperbacks)

Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet and Allan Ahlberg (Puffin Books)

Handa's Surprise by Eileen Browne (Walker Books)

The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle (Puffin)

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves