Just For The Kids - Shelburne Orchards

Just For Kids

What do you get if you cross an apple with a shellfish?
A crab apple!

How do you make an apple puff?
Chase it round the garden.

How do you make an apple turnover?
Push it down a hill!

What kind of apple isn't an apple?
A pineapple.

Why did the apple go out with a fig?
Because it couldn't find a date!

Apple Stamping

Make a stamp with apples! Depending on the type of paint you use, you can print on either paper or fabric.

Supplies needed
• Apples
• Paint (Water-based or fabric paint, depending on what you'll be making)
• Paper or aluminum plate (large paint brushes can be substituted)
• Paper (any size from small pieces to giftwrap)
• Newspaper to work on
• Knife to cut the apple (if you're a kid, you may want to have an adult help with this part)

Creating the apple stamp
You can either cut an apple in half through the middle OR from the top to bottom. It's a different result depending on which way you cut it! If you cut it straight down through the stem, you'll have an apple shape. If you cut it through the middle, you'll have a stamp with a star in the middle. Or you can actually carve the apple (carefully!) to make other shapes.

Once the apple has been cut, dip it into paint in a pan or use the paintbrush and put paint onto the apple.

Print onto paper (try to make wrapping paper!) or fabric (such as a T-shirt, tote bag, napkin, or towel). If you print on something with a couple of layers (like a T-shirt), put a heavy layer of newspaper in-between the layers so that the paint doesn't bleed through).

Let everything dry carefully. And clean up well, so that you'll be allowed to do crafts again!

Candleholders Made From Apples

Choose apples that will sit flat on a surface.

Supplies needed
• Apples
• Short candles
• Apple corer
• Lamb's ear or paper leaves

How to make the candleholders
• Polish apples with a soft cloth.
• Use the apple corer at the stem part and take out about a 1/2 inch.
• Put the leaves into the edge of the hole you've made.
• Add the candle.

Party with Apples

It might be fun to have a party or dinner with an apple theme! You could:
• make placemats with apples drawn, painted, or printed on them (see Apple Stamping)
• make foods with apples (apple slices and cheese, applesauce, apple pie, etc.)
• serve apple cider and dried apples
• set the table with apple candleholders (see Candleholders) and apple napkins
• use clear glass plates with apple drawings tucked under them

Apple-solutely Fun Facts

• Apples are "pome fruits" which means "fleshy fruits."
• Nationally, U.S. farmers grow about 250 million bushels of apples in an average year.
• About 60% of the U.S. apple crop is consumed fresh.
• Favorite U.S. apple varieties are: Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Gala, Granny Smith, Fuji and McIntosh.
• The average American consumes about 19 pounds of fresh apples each year.
• On average, an American eats just over 4 pounds of canned apples and about 1.7 gallons of apple juice annually.
• Around the world, apple growers grow over 1 billion bushels of apples.
• 2500 varieties of apples are grown in the United States and 7500 varieties of apples are grown throughout the world.
• Largest apple producers (in decreasing order) are: China, United States, Italy, France, Poland and Germany.
• Vermont's fresh apple crop is valued at $10-12 million each year.
• Processed apple products, such as cider, applesauce and hard cider bring an additional $10-12 million into the state each year.
• Vermont's most popular apple varieties are McIntosh, Cortland, Red Delicious and Empire.
• Vermont has almost 4,000 acres of commercial apple production.
• McIntosh apples became VermontÕs leading variety after an extremely cold winter (1917-18) devastated most other varieties.
• On the average, it costs VermontÕs apple growers about $12 to produce, harvest, store and market one bushel of apples.
• In 1999, the Vermont legislature designated the apple as the state fruit, and the apple pie as the state pie. Yay!
• The number 5 is important in the world of apples (and not just because apple is a five-letter word). Apple blossoms typically form in clusters of 5, an apple blossom has 5 petals, Red Delicious apples usually have 5 bumps (lobes) on the base of the apple, and the "star" you see when you cut an apple in half is due to the fruit's 5 seed cavities. Each cavity has the potential for 2 seeds, thus 10 seeds per apple are the norm.
• 25 % of an apple's volume is air...which is why they float.
• Apple trees can grow over 40 feet high and live over 100 years.
• Apples are a member of the rose family.
• Long before apples were cultivated, it is believed they grew wild in Central Asia and China, as well as in Southwest Asia.
• The Stone Age peoples of Europe cultivated apple trees. In 3000 B.C., the ancient Lake Dwellers of northern Italy and Switzerland also grew apples. The Greeks and Romans both cultivated apples. When the Romans conquered England (first century B.C.) they brought the art of apple cultivation with them. The Spaniards brought apples to Mexico and South America. The Pilgrims of Massachusetts Bay Colony planted apple seeds in 1629. Pioneers took apple trees west. Indians planted trees from seeds they had received at white settlements.
• To the Iroquois Indians, the apple tree is the central tree of heaven.
• Sir Isaac Newton's discovery of the force of gravitation was sparked when he saw an apple fall from a tree.
• Johnny Appleseed spent 49 years of his life in the American wilderness planting apple seeds to fulfill his dream of a land where apple trees blossomed everywhere and no one was hungry. Born John Chapman on September 26, 1774, in Massachusetts, Johnny created apple orchards in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio. There is no way to estimate how many millions of seeds he planted in the hundreds of nurseries he created in the territory lying south of the Great Lakes and between the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. More than 200 years later, some of those trees still bear apples.
• A medium-size apple has only 80 calories, no fat, no sodium and no cholesterol.
• Cornell University researchers have found that that 100 grams of unpeeled fresh apple (about 2/3 of an apple) provides the total antioxidant activity of 1,500 milligrams of vitamin C.

photo credits: Stephen Brooks, Brett Carpenter, Kevin Clayton, Cindy Cowles, Brent Harrewyn, Terry Hotaling, Amie Humphrey, David Humphrey, Megan Humphrey, Nick Seifert, Tucker Watson, and Natalie Stultz

Shelburne Orchards | 216 Orchard Road | Shelburne VT 05482
(p) 802-985-2753 | (f) 802-985-8763
info@shelburneorchards.com
Nick Cowles, Proprietor