Apple Week at Rella’s Spielhaus: A Sweet Taste of Learning
When autumn arrives in New York City, Rella’s Spielhaus turns into a small orchard of laughter and discovery. In both our Mommy & Me (& Dads too!) class and Saturday School, the children explored the season’s favorite fruit — “der Apfel” — through tasting, singing, moving, and creating.
Apple Adventures in the Mommy & Me (& Dads too) Class
Our youngest learners, ages one to three, start their 45-minute class with familiar German songs. Parents and children sing along to “Winke, winke, winke,” “Wir rollen unsere Arme,” and “Meine Hände sind verschwunden.” Soon, tiny hands shake rhythm instruments as we add movement and sound to autumn favorites like “Bunt sind schon die Wälder” and “Ich lieb den Herbst.”
Then comes a quiet, magical moment. Elke recites the rhyme “Fünf Finger und der Apfel.” The children watch, fascinated, as five little fingers work together to lift an imaginary apple — a playful lesson in teamwork and rhythm.
The highlight follows quickly: apple tasting! From a basket, Elke brings out one red and one green apple. “Rot oder grün?” she asks. Children point and shout their guesses as she peels and slices them. Everyone gets to try both. The red is sweet, the green a bit sour — but all agree: “Beide sind lecker!”
Together, we learn new words through touch and taste:
der Apfel – the apple
die Schale – the peel
schneiden – to cut
schälen – to peel
Afterward, it’s time to climb and slide in our indoor playground — the “Rutschbahn” always a favorite. Finally, the children gather around the table to color and paint their own apples with crayons and dot markers. Some are bright red, some yellow, others wonderfully rainbow-colored.
We end with a cheerful round of “Ringel, Ringel, Reihe” and our goodbye song “Tschüss, tschüss, auf Wiedersehen.” Little voices echo through the room — a sweet mix of music, movement, and first German words.
Cooking Apples in the Saturday Class
In the other classroom, the older children dive into a bigger project — “Apfelmus!” During free play, blocks and trains cover the floor while another group helps Mika color apple templates. Soon, everyone gathers to prepare the apples. One after another, the children peel, cut, and dice pieces for the pot. The air quickly fills with the cozy smell of apple and cinnamon. As the apples simmer, we sing “Wir heißen euch willkommen” and begin our exploration of “der Apfel — oder besser gesagt: die Äpfel!” We talk about where apples come from, what’s inside, and what happens when we cook them.
New vocabulary grows naturally from the experience:
der Stengel – the stem
der Kochtopf – the pot
umrühren – to stir
stampfen – to mash
The children take turns stirring the warm mixture and practice their new verbs in real time. Later, Elke points out that “apple” in German changes from “der Apfel” to “die Äpfel.” That sparks a lively mini-grammar game — finding other words that change the same way:
das Blatt – die Blätter
der Satz – die Sätze
das Rad – die Räder
Learning through curiosity — and laughter — is what Rella’s is all about.
When the “Apfelmus” is ready, each child gets a small cup to taste. “So lecker!” one calls out, and the rest agree. Even a bit of drizzle can’t stop the fun. Outside, the children jump in puddles before returning to make apple prints using real apple halves and paint. The classroom smells of cinnamon, and colorful art fills the tables. The morning ends, fittingly, with one last song: “Ich lieb die Herbstzeit.”
Why We Love “Der Apfel”
Every theme at Rella’s Spielhaus, our German daycare on the Upper West Side, connects language to real life. Through the apple, children learn colors, shapes, textures, and tastes — and the German words that go with them.
For our youngest, repetition and song build understanding long before sentences appear. For our Saturday students, cooking and crafting turn vocabulary into experience. In both cases, language learning becomes sensory, joyful, and alive.
At Rella’s, even a simple apple becomes a bridge — between English and German, between seeing and saying, between learning and belonging.
Come Experience Language the Rella’s Way
Whether your child joins our Mommy & Me (& Dads too!) class or the Saturday School on their own, each week offers a new theme, a new song, and a new spark of curiosity.
Come learn, laugh, and taste a bit of autumn with us — “von der Musik bis zum Apfelmus.”