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Welcome to our first day of Playful Preschool!! I am super excited that you are here and I am hoping that you too are joining me on this adventure to bring that little extra learning and FUN to our preschoolers every day learning activities.
Last week I wrote up a ruff Teaching my Kids post and plan to update it as we go along with fabulous links to just simply awesome ideas!
I am not alone in this adventure, I have teamed up with a bunch of awesome teachers and parents who will also be adding their ideas each Wednesday on their own blogs as well as in our secret support group on facebook. (want to join the facebook group? check the details out here) You can also follow using the hashtag #playfulpreschool across social media.
This weeks theme is apples!
Join us to explore cooking with preschoolers below and how we can turn this into a learning experience.
Before even starting to bake an apple pie the lesson begins in either the fruit market or grocery store. The recipe that we have used below goes well with any type of apple so I would recommend getting 2 or 3 different varieties (as available) for your apple pie. It is even better if you can go apple picking!
Set up your counter space and bring out all the items you will need to make the apple pie with your preschooler. A knife (we used a normal blunt one), rolling pin, mixing bowls, measuring items and so forth.
My preschooler was so excited he wanted to chop those apples up right away and grabbed the knife I had taken out for myself to peel the apples with. This was a great opportunity to explain the sharp knife vs the blunter one and what their different functions were.
We then got our recipe out and started adding the ingredients to our mixing bowl. Now here your preschooler is able to use the specific measuring items to accomplish this task under your guidance.
This was basically one of the first times I have let my preschooler actually measure out an entire recipe (it is rather simple with few ingredients) and I was excited to see that he had progressed to the point to actually follow my instructions.
Once mixed up well first with a spoon then with hands empty the dough out on the counter and start rolling!
The next task is to fit all this into the apple pie mold. Here I had to help with the lifting of the flattened dough into the mould. Your preschooler will be able to press the dough up the sides to secure the base and to put it into the fridge as directed in the recipe.
I think this was my preschoolers favorite part of making the apple pie, taste testing those apples! Remember at the start I suggested getting a few varieties of apples? Well now we are going to talk about those apples. Do they look different, yes. BUT do they taste different too?
We had picked up 2 types of apples on our shopping trip a granny smith and a golden delicious which my preschooler eats on a daily basis. I peeled the apples and sliced them into strips. I then encouraged my preschooler to taste the difference.
As you can imagine he wasn’t very impressed with the granny smith apple as it is rather sour!
This is the point at which my 5 year old was able to finally chop some apples!
TIP: When doing recipes with your preschooler try to get a visual recipe to follow along on! We used one I found on Pinterest from WikiHow titled How to Bake an Apple Pie from Scratch it has step by step pictures which was great for my preschoolers first recipe follow along! Either print out or use a tablet.
More mixing and measuring later my preschooler got to squeeze a lemon into the mixture. I think he wanted to add the entire basket of lemons at this point because well, squeezing lemons is fun!
We then used the left over dough, rolled it flat and cut strips for the top of the pie. This is also an easy step your preschooler can do.
Add the pie to oven and set the alarm / egg timer and have your preschooler keep an eye on it. 😉 Don’t forget that having your preschooler “help” you set the oven to preheat in the first place is also a lesson in following a recipe.
Once the pie is made, let it cool and ENJOY!! mmmm
Plan your learning week with Preschool Apple Theme Activities from the Playful Preschool Education Team:
SOCIAL STUDIES
From Orchard to Table. Watch and Make at The Educators’ Spin On It
SCIENCE
Examining Apple Parts, How Does It Grow, Sink/Float at Little Bins For Little Hands
MUSIC & MOVEMENT
Apple Hop at Learning 2 Walk
MATH
Counting Apples with Preschoolers: Real-Life Math at Life Over C’s
Apple Math Fun in Preschool – Tasting and Graphing Apples at Fun-A-Day
WRITING
Scented Playdough Pre-Writing Activity at Preschool Toolbox
LITERACY
Alphabet Activity: Apple Tree Letter Matching at Mom Inspired Life
Alphabet Learning: Apple Stamping at Growing Book by Book
Apple-Bet Match : Matching Lowercase with Upper Case Letters at Tiny Tots Adventures
SENSORY
Applesauce Dough for Sensory Play at Still Playing School
COOKING
How to Make Homemade Apple Pie – Cooking with Preschoolers at Powerful Mothering
SCIENCE
Apple Oxidation Experiment at Raising Lifelong Learners
CRAFT
Paper Plate Apple Craft at The Kennedy Adventures
PIN this preschool lesson for later!!
Follow Nicolette | Powerful Mothering’s board Preschool 3-5 years old on Pinterest.
Kim says
I absolutely adore that you let your little one do all the rolling and styling! I’m sure he was proud of his hard work!
Devany says
Oh, how fun! They will remember this forever!
Dianna @ The Kennedy Adventures says
I love rolling out the pie crust! (I need to buy another rolling pin — mine has mysteriously disappeared!)
It looks like SO much fun!
the preschool toolbox says
Love this! My grandmother used to make pies with us as kids! It is one of my fondest memories! Great post!
Colleen says
What a yummy looking pie! We’re going apple picking next week, and pie is definitely on the agenda.
Jodie @ Growing Book by Book says
I love to cook with kids. The experience helps to build so many skills. We just made apple pie together this weekend. Such a wonderful experience!
Mary Catherine says
My son and I love to cook together, but we’ve never made a pie – that needs to be corrected right away! 🙂
Natasha says
Love it! baking with little ones can be full of joy and very floury messes on the walls, your pants, your face and everything else. I like that it teaches them to pay attention and follow directions though. So how was the pie?
Danielle Buckley says
This looks so good. My 3.5 year old loves to help me in the kitchen. I bet he would really enjoy this!
Kim Vij @ The Educators' Spin On It says
The best pies are made from the heart, what a fun activity to do with your preschooler. One of my favorite cooking classes was when we all made our own mini pies, so fun to see as they build independence. Thanks for s haring your gorgeous pictures!
Sarah says
We love to bake together! Cooking with preschoolers is such a great learning opportunity in so many ways. What an awesome looking pie too! The pictures from your phone are perfect too just the way I like to do it!
Amanda says
That makes me want to bake with my littles RIGHT NOW! Nice lattice crust =) I’ve never felt brave enough to try!