Thank You Trees

Las week, the children compiled a list of things we harvest from trees and decided we should eat all of them, so we did. Here was the list:
 
Coconut
Orange
Banana
Avocado
Walnut
Almond
Maple Syrup
Apple
Mango
Lemon
Lime
Cocoa
Cherries (out of season)

We introduced our fruit collection at morning meeting and for many of us, fruit consumed the rest of our day. Elle, Charlie and Sam helped gather images of the different trees our fruit came from. Will offered his friends a book he found in our library, “This is a book for tree foods, and you can look at it.” Grace was eager to use the book as tool and find out how different fruit grows. While some children were more interested in origins, others preferred a sensory approach. Children considered, smelled and squeezed the fruits, making associations and comparisons along the way.

“This is very big and giant. It even has two colors.” Elle holding a mango
 
“It looks like a biscuit!” Austin looks at picture of an almond shell opening
 
“I’m afraid of limes cause I don’t like the spots.” Grace
 
“It’s like cheese!“ Rowan looking at coconut pieces
 

The real excitement came when we started to prepare our fruit salad and everyone wanted to contribute. The children peeled, chopped, juiced and more. More meaning: finally getting into the coconut after several knives and techniques. Margaret was the one to bust it open and the class was rewarded with fresh coconut water! They also made guacamole for our picnic and as an extra special treat they shaved some chocolate onto chunks of coconut.

​Our day was a little like Thanksgiving on a gorgeous spring day. The rain held out so we could have our tree food picnic under our favorite tree. The children set the table and were eager to try new flavors, fruit salad, guacamole, lemonade and coconut water, and banana maple walnut bread. Consider thanking a tree or two for everything they give us!