Apple Picking with Kids

Parents and teachers go apple picking with kids for lots of good reasons.  Sometimes apple picking with kids is pursued  for purely practical reasons - obtaining fresh off the tree fruit at reasonable prices.  Sometimes parents go apple picking with kids because it brings everybody out into the fresh air and sunshine .  There are some families in which parents have turned apple picking with kids into a traditional fall activity, like touch football or raking leaves. No matter why you set out to go apple picking with kids you can simultaneously make use of the orchard and its apples as setting and props to present some memorable life lessons.  

Many Hands Make Light the Work    You can demonstrate the value of working together by taking several different sized picking baskets with you into the orchard. For five minutes have your kids pick together ( with adult supervision as needed) and ask that they put all of their apples in one basket.   While the children are picking have an adult or an older child pick quietly all alone.  Do not call attention to this activity and do not suggest in any way that there is a race going on.  Just allow the picking to take place and the time to go by.  

When five minutes have passed ask everyone to stop picking for a minute and compare what has been accomplished.   This is a great time to discuss with your children why their basket has so much more fruit even though no one of them picked longer than the solo picker.  Share the expression "many hands make light the work" and ask the children if they can explain the meaning of that saying using the apples as an example.  Ask them to think about how much longer the person working alone would have to work to pick as much fruit as the group did.