Fun fact: The first apple pie recipe was printed over 630 years ago in England in 1381 (Grand Traverse Pie Company).
The Apple Pie Sensory Kits and Sensory Minis have lot of fun details that will have your kids using their senses, creativity, and baking lots of fun pies!
Book Suggestions:
- There are so many signs of autumn in these beautiful illustrations. Engage your child in exploring and identifying them. Ask, “What might we see in the fall season?”
- There are so many types of apples that Amelia Bedelia learns about. Investigate these with your child and ask if they have seen any or what they might taste like. Remember to check out the apples in the produce section and explore their names the next time you grocery shop with your child.
- There are many math opportunities in this book! Explore fractions when Grandma cuts up the apple - first into two pieces (½), then four pieces (¼), then eight pieces (⅛).
- Recipes are great opportunities to engage in more math with your child! If you can, consider making an apple pie together!
- Amelia Bedelia is famous for getting confused by figures of speech (phrases that mean something different than the literal definition of the words). For example, when Grandma tells Amelia to “watch her fingers” she means to be careful of her fingers around the rolling pin, but Amelia thinks she means to actually watch her fingers. Explore the figures of speech in the book and ask your child what they might mean.
- What other figures of speech might your child know?
Kit Suggestions:
- Explore the sensory dough. What does it feel like? Smell like?
- Explore the components of the box and engage your child in conversation about the apples in the book. What type of apples might be represented in the box? look back at the book for reference.
- Encourage your child to use the measuring spoons to explore numbers and fractions. How many scoops of the ¼ teaspoon would you need to equal 1 teaspoon? What about ½?
- Look at the recipe in the back of the book. Encourage your child to pretend to follow the recipe for Ameila’s apple pie and then make up their own. Don’t forget to use the measuring spoons! If you have measuring cups at home, add them to the sensory play experience!
- Use the die to engage in more math! Roll to see how many ingredients (apples, pom poms, pumpkins, cinnamon sticks) to put in the pies.
- Use the rolling pin and sensory dough to make all kinds of pies. What type of pies might you make?
These Ways to Play are not meant to be an exhaustive list, after all the possibilities are literally endless, but more of a starting point. They also don’t need to be printed and checked off as you go, but certainly can be if that’s what works best for you and your family.
After experimenting with a few of these, I'd love to know which ideas worked best for you!