Apple Taste Test and Graph Activity

Using seasonal favorites is something I do a lot of in homeschooling.  Each year we do something with apples, then pumpkins, then turkeys, then snowflakes and so on.  It creates a rhythm of the year that the kids can rely on.  I love teaching my kids with food related themes, so right now, it’s all about learning with APPLES! 

Apple Taste Test and Graph Activity

 We have so many different kinds of apples that are grown in Washington that it’s hard to know which ones to pick!  I ended up picking the 6 most popular.  Together with a few other homeschoolers, we set about making a chart to choose our favorite.  

Learning with Apples

Apple Taste Test and Graph Activity

 First I cut the apples into bite sized pieces and put the sticker on the bowl so we would know which was which.  Then I had the kids taste one at a time and my daughter, Cyan, marked if they liked it on the tally graph.  

Apple Taste Test and Graph Activity

 They each got one mark if they liked it, two marks if they loved it.  After we had tasted them all, I had the kids pick their very very favorite… and that one got a third tally mark.  

Apple Taste Test and Graph Activity

 In the end, we had a rough graph of what everyone like most.  The Jazz apple came out way ahead! 

I enjoy using tally marks for things like this because their configuration of groupings of 5 marks is easy to count, even for the 1st graders among us.  It is a good visual that lends itself well to conversations about other types of graphs, like pie charts or bar graphs.  I had my kids make their tally marks into a bar graph and a pie chart.  Logan (1st grade) created a bar graph after watching this video and Cyan (7th grade) made a pie chart, in which she had to reduce fractions so that she could create the pie wedges. 

Apple Taste Test and Graph Activity

 All in all, a great object lesson that started out with apples!  Now to make mini apple pies with all the apple leftovers! 

Apple Taste Test and Graph Activity

 YUM!

About Val

Valerie Rose, creator of the blog Collecting the Moments… one by one spends her days cooking, gardening, and homeschooling her 4 children on her urban homestead in rainy western Washington. With camera in hand, she is constantly collecting the moments of life and encouraging others to do the same with activities and inspiration for a simple, creative household. You can find her on Pinterest, Facebook and on her homeschooling blog where she documents all the fun learning her kids do day to day.

Comments

  1. This is such a cute idea!
    I am totally doing this with my kids and their friends – it will be nice to see what the winning apple is 🙂 Thanks for a great idea!

  2. I am so glad you like it! My kids had a BLAST with it and did it again on their own a couple days later. 🙂

    Blessings,

    Val