Our nursery is housed in a converted barn set on a working farm in the New Forest. In such an impressive setting the children appreciate the outdoors and are aware of the changing seasons. To celebrate the start of autumn, we organised a family day that included a family forest trail and apple pressing.
The children picked apples from the low branches of the trees and collected the windfall fruit. It's a small orchard, so we also asked parents to contribute apples from their gardens to be sure we had enough juice. This resulted in a range of apples and it was interesting looking at the different varieties. The children are used to seeing the green and red shop-bought ones, but many from the orchard were gold and russet-brown.
We discussed how we needed to wash the apples to clean them. Then they were carefully chopped and placed into a mangle, where the children crushed them. Everyone was mesmerised by the process. Then came the time to actually crush out the juice. A press was put on top of the barrel and screwed down hard. The children used teamwork and walked round and round, screwing the press down. They could watch the apple juice draining into a large bowl.
The juice was reddish-brown in colour, and all the parents and children really enjoyed drinking it. It was great for the children to see directly where the juice really comes from. We have a vegetable patch where we plant, grow, pick and eat many different kinds of produce, so the children are used to associating this with the food they eat, but it was a first for drinks. They realised how fresh and simple the apple juice was without any additives, and we were able to reinforce healthy eating.
EXTENSION ACTIVITIES
- Children took mulch from the apple press to the farm and watched the farmer feed it to the cows.
- We cut apples in half, smelled and handled them, and discussed what the pips were for.
- We went for a forest walk, looked at the changing colours of the trees, enjoyed crunching through fallen leaves and collected leaves and bracken.
- We made artistic patterns by printing with apple segments and leaves.
WORKING WITH PARENTS
Many of the parents work full-time, so it was nice to have the opportunity for them to informally visit the nursery. It was lovely to see the children take ownership of their nursery, take control and show their parents around. They could demonstrate their independence and show off their displayed work.
HOW IT'S ALL DONE
After being collected, the apples are chopped up and put into a mangle. The crushed apples are then transferred to the press, where the juice is squeezed out of the fruit, leaving a mulch behind. The apple juice is then ready to drink!
Liz Morey, proprietor of the Coach House Day Nursery, Fordingbridge, Hampshire, spoke to Annette Rawstrone
Get in touch if your nursery has a project that you'd like to share, by contacting
annette.rawstrone@haymarket.com, 020 8267 8407
Photographs at coach house day nursery by russell sach
