Materials
Poster board marker laminator Velcro construction paper scissors Apples and The Pumpkin Book by Gail Gibbons apple pumpkin
Instructions
1. This activity will take a couple of days to complete.
2. Make a chart on a piece of poster board and write the words Apple and Pumpkin at the top. On the left-hand side, write the words seed, growth, root, flower, leaf, sprout, and fruit. Laminate the poster board and add Velcro to each column.
3. In advance, use construction paper to make seeds, inside of fruit, leaf, flower, stem, root, and tree of an apple. Laminate the parts and place Velcro on the back of each one.
4. Read the book Apples by Gail Gibbons and, if possible, visit an orchard.
5. Discuss with the children the parts of an apple and how they grow.
6. Place the construction paper parts of an apple in the apple column. Place each part next to the correct word on the left side of the chart.
7. Prepare in advance the parts of a pumpkin (seed, inside fruit, stem, vine, leaf, flower, and root). Laminate the parts and place Velcro on the back.
8. Read The Pumpkin Book by Gail Gibbons and, if possible, visit a pumpkin patch.
9. Discuss with the children the parts of a pumpkin and how they grow.
10. Place the parts of the pumpkin in the pumpkin column of the chart.
11. Display and discuss the chart with the children, pointing out the similarities and differences with the cycle of growth and the parts of each fruit.
12. Leave out the chart, pumpkin, apple, books, and construction paper pieces for the children to observe, touch, and read in the Science Area.
13. Encourage the children to compare the textures of the outside and inside of the fruit. Also, ask them to describe the textures of the inside and outside of a pumpkin and an apple. Write down their observations.
