03/05/2026
It all started with a pumpkin… in a moment of surprise, way back in October, one of the pumpkins in our twos classroom dropped on the floor. It fell… it cracked… the children noticed. They gathered. The “crack” sparked Room 2’s ongoing, rich investigation into what’s inside whole fruits and vegetables. Throughout the remainder of the fall and winter, we’ve been investigating winter produce in all possible ways. Concentrating on what’s in season, we’ve pulled apart, tasted, squeezed, mashed, and examined purple cabbage, yellow cauliflower, pomegranates, many different types of citrus, and more.
These explorations have allowed children to use all five senses, and speaks to their collective enjoyment of tactile sensory experiences and their innate curiosity. Their desire to work with these natural materials, once living, growing things, has played in harmonic contrast to our concurrent metals investigation as children posed their questions and set about discovery. Along the way, they’re engaging in scientific thinking, expanding their palettes and learning about healthy foods, building vocabulary through describing scents, textures, and flavors, and making connections. A corner of our classroom’s mini atelier, equipped with a light table and papered with photos and quotes as well as physical evidence of their inquiries, has become the natural home of our fruits and vegetables study, where children return every day to examine the seeds, peels, and juice they’ve collected, comment on their the documentation, and dream up new questions and further ideas.
The investigation has spanned many disciplinary areas in wholly age-appropriate ways, from science to cooking to art. As spring approaches, and the possibilities emerge - of more fruits and vegetables to explore, the potential opportunity for growing our own - we’re excited to continue, as always, seeing where the children lead. 🍊🍋🟩🥬🫑
