Apple Taste Test Activity with Free Printable Hats

Add these educational hats to your apple unit, and work on science, math, and literacy concepts with your preschool and kindergarten students.

It’s apple season! Here’s a fun activity you can use with your apple unit, and it includes a cute free printable that adds a literacy element as well as science and math.

Choose one of two different apple taste tests to do with your students. Then, print off the related hats for them. Each hat version features the letter a and the child’s name – because names (and hats!) make everything more fun!

Apple Taste Test Hat #1

The first hat is the simplest. Have children taste red, yellow, and green apples to see which ones they like.

Then, they can mark their preferences on their hat. If they can’t read color words yet, you can help them by underlining each word with that color pen or crayon. (I would let them check off each apple that they like, rather than forcing them to choose just one favorite.)

What You Can Teach

You can cover a lot of skills at once with this interdisciplinary activity. Here are some ideas to include in your lessons.

Science

• Use senses (sight, taste, touch, smell) to observe the differences between different color apples.
• Make predictions about which apple they think will taste the best and see if their predictions match their experience.
• Cut open an apple to look at its seeds.
• Weigh apples.

Math

Don’t you love it when you can bring in math too!?

• Sort the apples by color, size, or other characteristics.
• Count the number of apples in each group.
• Introduce the concept of fractions by cutting the apples into halves or quarters.
• Slice an apple into rounds to show how a sphere is made up of circles.
• Take a poll and make a class chart after your tasting.

Literacy

• Practice speaking and listening skills as children talk about apple preferences.
• Connect the /a/ sound to the letter ‘a’.
• Recognize their name in print.
• Expand their vocabulary with words that describe apples, such as sweet, tart, and crisp.

Geography

Look at the labels on your apples to see where they were grown. Then, show the children where those places are on a map. (If your apples don’t say where they come from, it’s a good bet that they were grown in Washington state.)

Apple Hat Taste Test #2

The second apple hat is perfect if your kids have tasted caramel apples, applesauce, and apple pie (or apple pie in a cup), as well as apple slices and apple juice.

Once kids have tasted everything, have them check off the items they like. Then, they can color and assemble their hats.

(I know there are even more apple foods you may have tried, but these are the ones I was able to find cute pictures of for you!)

What Else You Can Teach

You can teach all of the skills listed above for the first taste test. Plus, here is one more Science idea:

• Explore how apples change when they are cooked. Use the five senses to compare before and after – yes even hearing because you’ll only hear that “crunch” on a raw apple, right?!

How to Prep the Hats

To personalize the printable crowns with each child’s name, you’ll need to get to a computer and open the file with Adobe Reader, which is free (see below to download the file). Here’s a peek at how it looks and works:

Alternatively, you can just print a blank hat and have your students write their names by hand.

More Apple Activities

Happy Teaching!