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Learning Parts of Fruit

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Have you ever eaten a piece of fruit without knowing what to do with the skin, stem, or pit? Well, today’s your lucky day! I will teach you all about the different parts of fruit and what to do with them. Stay tuned for more information on this fun topic.

PARTS OF A FRUIT

We cannot create observers by saying ‘observe,’ but by giving them the power and the means for this observation and these means are procured through education of the senses. ~ Dr. Maria Montessori

Learn the Parts of a Fruit

The first step to learning about the parts of a fruit was to read this book:

These books excited my boys; they were ready to explore more when I brought out the fruit basket (see the above image). For us, as I have mentioned in the past, an introduction is always primarily concrete.

Parts of the Fruit Activities

My boys are 4 and 2.5 years old. Not only are concrete objects a way to hook them into the activity, but they also feed their development brains, which are unable to think abstractly just yet.

parts_of_fruit

I found these fantastic fruits at a local grocery store. One was a Kiwano, aka a “horned melon,” another was an Asian pear, a Pomegranate, and, of course, a Star Fruit. I introduced the fruit by using simple language to describe it.

I also asked my boys what they saw, felt, and, perhaps, even smelled. The Kiwano has callous skin, while the Pomegranate is relatively smooth. My job is to give them the language so that they can compare and contrast.

inside_fruit_activity_kids

Then, together, we cut open each piece of fruit. Even an adult will be amazed at how different the inside appears from the outside and the other fruit. We touched and tasted the fruit.

I identified the Parts of the Fruit by pointing to each part: “pericarp. exocarp. mesocarp. endocarp. seeds. blossom. leaf.”

inside_fruit_kids_activity

Then I placed the fruit in a large bowl and let my sons explore with their hands. Usually, I wouldn’t use food this way, but given that we have lots of fruit-loving birds in our area, I was okay with placing this fruit in our bird feeder once the lesson was complete.

fruit_exploration_kids_activity

There are beautiful Parts of a Fruit nomenclature cards from The Helpful Garden that I will be integrating into our following Botany lessons. Still, for now, sensory exploration was a great start.

Deb at Living Montessori Now also has a resourceful Montessori-inspired Fruit unit round-up. Montessori for Everyone also offers FREE Whole and Half Montessori Fruit Matching Cards.

I hope you found this introduction to Parts of a Fruit helpful. More to come in the future. Please leave me a comment. Hearing from you always makes me smile. 

Thanks for reading!
Marnie

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