# Fruit Sensory Exploration: Whole vs Sliced > Set up a bin of everyday fruits in four columns: whole fruit, a sliced piece, the skin, and chopped pieces to taste. Kids then explore with all five senses through touch-and-guess and taste-and-guess games, and talk about skins, seeds, colors and halves. - URL: https://www.funlittles.com/sensory-activities-fruits-exploration-and-whole-fruit-vs-sliced-fruit/ - Ages: 2–5 yrs · Difficulty: easy · Mess: medium - Time: prep 20 min, activity 30 min - Works for: one-on-one, small group, whole class · one batch serves about 2 kids - Skills: five-senses, compare-contrast, vocabulary, fractions, colors, science - Cautions: citrus ## Materials (one batch) - 4 piece Strawberries - 2 piece Kiwi - 2 piece Pear - 2 piece Apple (red) - 2 piece Orange - 2 piece Banana (optional) - Watermelon wedge (optional) - 1 piece Clear plastic storage bin or large tray - 4 sheet Construction paper (assorted colors) - 1 piece Marker (household) - 1 piece Tape (household) - 1 piece Knife and cutting board (adult use) (household) ## Substitutions - Instead of orange: Any other fruit you have on hand (The author used the fruits she had at home. Swap freely.) - Instead of strawberries: Any other fruit you have on hand (Useful if a child is allergic to strawberries.) ## Safety - Adult does all cutting and peeling with the knife, away from the kids. - Choking risk for toddlers: cut tasting pieces small, keep kids seated while tasting, and supervise the whole time. - Keep seeds (e.g. apple and pear seeds) away from little ones who might swallow them. Supervise the seed-comparing closely. - Check for food allergies before anyone tastes (citrus, kiwi, strawberry, banana and others), and follow your school's food policy. - Wash all fruit well first, because kids touch, smell and taste the skins too. - Orange peel and citrus juice can sting eyes and small cuts. Wash hands afterwards. ## Before you start - Write four labels on construction paper: Whole Fruit, Sliced Fruit, Skin, and Chopped! Taste it! - Check for food allergies and wash all the fruit. ## Steps 1. Tape the four labels across the top of the bin: Whole Fruit, Sliced Fruit, Skin, Chopped! Taste it! 2. Adult: for each fruit, put a whole one in the first column, a sliced piece in the second, some peeled skin in the third and small chopped pieces in the last. 3. Look closely at the fruits and find what's the same and what's different. 4. Touch game: close your eyes while an adult hands you a whole fruit, then name it using just your sense of touch. 5. Taste game: close your eyes, taste a chopped piece, and name the fruit. 6. Smell each fruit and its skin. 7. Talk about skins: which fruits can you eat with the skin on? Compare skin color with flesh color. 8. Compare the seeds. Which fruit has its seeds on the outside? 9. Describe how each fruit feels and smells, and spot the halves, wholes and fourths. 10. For toddlers: put a whole fruit and a slice in their hands, compare the two, and name the fruits and their colors. ## Tips - It's not really an 'activity', more of a talking, feeling and exploring kind of afternoon. But boy oh boy did they love it! - My toddler went for the strawberries and started eating them before I even had a chance to tell them what we were doing, so expect some snacking. - The taste game was great for apples and pears. Peeled and chopped, they look alike until you taste them. - The kids tried orange and kiwi with the skin on and obviously went 'ewww', but apple skins were extremely tasty. The faces are half the fun. - My 4 year old actually came up with the touch game herself. Sometimes she used the texture of the skin, sometimes the shape and size. - It's a good pick for mixed ages. We did it with a 2 and a 4 year old, just hanging out in the backyard with a box of fruits. - A parent planned to try it with a child who likes to smell everything before eating, as a gentle way to warm up to fresh fruit. (from readers) ## The original post by TurkeyMom (2013) Sensory activities with fruits Sensory activities if used judiciously can work as that perfect kids activity when dealing with kids from multiple age groups. It all started when my 4 year old mocked my 2 year for mistaking peeled and chopped pears for apples. In my toddler's defense the two crucial elements she needed to identify an object were removed. Apple- big, round and red. All she has in front of her were white squishy pieces of something. Then she used her sense of taste and of course she knew those were apples. This led to a super fun kids activity. I can't even call it an "activity" since it was more of a talking, feeling and exploring kind of afternoon But boy oh by did they love it! I made this sensory bin simply using the fruits I hand on hand and construction paper. I had four sections. A whole fruit, A sliced piece, skin and a few pieces for tasting. When the kids came over, they were wide eyed and squealed. My toddler ofcourse went for the strawberries and started just eating them before I had a chance to even tell them what we were doing. This kids activity created a sensory explosion since it **stimulated all the five senses.** We observed the fruits and looked for similarities and differences. This sensory activity is a very hands on kids activity which involved lots of communication and exploring with the kids. So sorry not many action shots. Here are a few topics we touched. My 4 year old actually came up with a cool game. ### Find the fruit with the sense of touch She first took a good look at the fruits and then closed her eyes and had me hand her over a fruit. Using just her **sense of touch she will name the fruit.** Sometimes she has to use the texture of the skin and sometimes she has to use the shape and size to guess the fruit. ### Find the fruit with the sense of taste We also did the other way and closed our eyes and used our **sense of taste to name the fruits.** This was great when tasting apples and pears. ### Find the fruit with the sense of smell. We explored the fruit by simply smelling the fruit and the skin as well. ### Talked about the skin. What fruits can be eaten with their skin? The kids tried to taste the orange and kiwi with their skin on and obviously went "ewww" On the other hand apple skins were extremely tasty. **We picked out the fruits with different skin color and the flesh color.** Watermelon would be a wonderful example for this. ### Talked about seeds We **compared all the seeds.** Strawberry is the only fruit in the bin with seeds on the outside. ### Vocabulary I encouraged my preschooler to describe the fruits. How do they feel? How do they smell? Great for **developing vocabulary.** ### Math My preschooler got in a bit of **math there with halves, wholes and fourths.** ### Toddler My toddler had tremendous fun tasting the skins and making faces! She also got to name the fruits and their **corresponding colors.** I placed a whole fruit and a slice fruit piece on her hand and we observed the two. So yay for play based learning. We got all that by "just" hanging out in the backyard with a box of fruits and enjoying the warm weather. *Edit: Obviously cut the orange the other way..* **Thanks for reading**