# Bag of Wonder: The Apple > An apple tree through the year, then cut it open to find the star! A free interactive 3D exhibit for children aged 2 to 6, from Curiosity's Child in Troy, Michigan. - Interactive exhibit: https://bagofwonder.com/look-inside/apple/ - Ages: 2 to 6. The story is pitched at the youngest; the tap cards give older children more to chew on. - Cost: free, with no sign-in, no ads and no tracking. - Works on: phones, tablets and computers, in a web browser. Sound on for the narration. ## What it is An apple tree through the year: buds, blossoms, a honeybee, a growing apple, then cut it open to find the star of seeds. Free, narrated 3D for ages 2 to 6. How to play: press play to hear the story (read aloud in Kelly's voice, with the words on screen). Slide the time slider back and forth to see any part again. Slide "Pull apart" to see what is hidden inside. Tap any glowing button for a fact. ## The story 1. This is an apple tree in winter. Its branches are bare, but tiny buds are sleeping on every twig. 2. In spring, the buds wake up and open into pink and white apple blossoms. 3. Buzz! A honeybee visits. She carries pollen from flower to flower. 4. The petals fall like snow. Look, a tiny green apple is growing where the flower was! 5. All summer long, the apple grows bigger and bigger, and turns red in the sun. 6. Fall is apple picking time in Michigan! A gentle lift and a twist, and the ripe apple comes off. Now you try, poppets: reach up high and give an apple a gentle twist! 7. Let's look inside! Cut across the middle, and look: a star of seeds! 8. Now we cut one down the middle: shiny skin, crunchy flesh, the core, and the seeds. 9. Every seed could grow into a brand new apple tree! 10. Look, poppets: the whole story on one table! A twig with buds, a blossom, a honeybee, the apple, and its seeds. ## The parts, and what we tell children These are the tap cards, word for word. - **Apple tree**: An apple tree rests all winter and wakes up in spring. Some apple trees grow apples for 100 years! - **Buds**: A bud is a tiny bundle of leaves and flowers, all packed up. A fuzzy coat keeps it cozy all winter. - **Twig**: Apples grow on short, knobbly twigs called spurs. The same spur can make flowers year after year. - **Apple blossom**: Each apple blossom has five petals. The buds are pink, and the flowers open pink and white. They smell sweet! - **Honeybee**: A honeybee sips sweet nectar from the flowers. Pollen sticks to her fuzzy body, and she carries it to the next flower. - **Leaf**: Apple leaves are oval, with tiny teeth along the edges. They catch sunshine to make food for the tree. - **Apple**: Michigan is one of the biggest apple-growing states. Apples can be red, green or yellow! - **Skin**: The shiny skin keeps the apple safe and juicy, like a raincoat. - **Flesh**: This is the crunchy, juicy part we eat. An apple is mostly water. That's why it's so juicy! - **Core**: The core is the tough middle of the apple. It holds the seeds safe in little pockets. - **Seeds**: Each little brown seed could grow a whole new apple tree. It takes a few years before the new tree grows apples. - **The star**: Cut an apple across its middle and you find a star! It has five points, one for each seed pocket. - **Stem**: The stem joined the apple to its twig. Water and food came in through it while the apple grew. - **Seedling**: A seed in the soil sends a root down and two little leaves up. Little by little, it grows into a tree. ## Getting the science right What we checked, and the myths we steer around: - Apple trees rest bare in winter; their buds form the summer before and wait, wrapped in fuzzy bud scales. - Apple blossoms have five petals; the buds are pink and the open flowers pink and white. The close-up blossoms are a scanned flowering crab apple, a close cousin of the eating apple with the same flowers. - Honeybees are the main pollinators in orchards: pollen sticks to their hairy bodies as they sip nectar and is carried to the next flower. - After pollination the petals fall and the base of the flower swells into the apple; the dried flower stays on the bottom of the apple. - Cut across its middle, an apple shows a five-pointed star: five seed pockets (carpels), usually with one or two seeds each. - Michigan is one of the top apple-growing states in the US (usually third, after Washington and New York); apple picking is in late summer and fall. - A seed grows a new tree, but it takes several years to bear fruit, and the apples are not the same as the parent tree's. ## How to use it with children Watch the story with the sound on. At the blossoms, ask "Who do you think will visit?" before the bee arrives. Then pull the slider at the cutting stages and count the five seed pockets of the star together. Ask more than you tell, and let the child drive. Then step away from the screen: cut a real apple across its middle (a grown-up does the cutting) and find the star, then cut another one top to bottom and compare. Count the seeds. Apple-print stars with paint make a lovely follow-up. Whole seeds are a choking risk for the youngest, so keep an eye on little hands. A few minutes together is plenty. The exhibit is a doorway to the real thing, not a replacement for it. ## Credits and licenses The real scans, maps and photographs belong to their makers, under the licenses below. The words, story and code are Curiosity's Child's. - Sketchfab ([CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)): [apple tree](https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/blossoming-apple-tree-7df0631398f443379fa4541e9efc2343) scan by Lassi Kaukonen, [crab apple blossom](https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/crab-apple-royal-beauty-garden-438908db1bf0490bb3cfdaeb4a095afc) scan by Brian Trepanier, [apple](https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/apple-da0cfd4c6a4e41c5aaf06797b463235b) scan by Moshe Caine, [honeybee](https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/honey-bee-aaf957992c1142bb8e3ad52c457ab014) by Tony's Classics - Poly Haven (CC0): [grass](https://polyhaven.com/a/leafy_grass), [snow](https://polyhaven.com/a/snow_02), [soil](https://polyhaven.com/a/brown_mud_dry), [bark](https://polyhaven.com/a/sakura_bark), [table](https://polyhaven.com/a/side_table_01) - Freesound ([CC0](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)): [lwdickens](https://freesound.org/s/260634/), [hargissssound](https://freesound.org/s/683566/), [Kinoton](https://freesound.org/s/397113/), [Garuda1982](https://freesound.org/s/639459/), [NickTayloe](https://freesound.org/s/830253/), [OutbreakProtocol](https://freesound.org/s/755233/) - Orchard backdrops painted with Grok Imagine - Apple insides, buds, blossoms, leaves and seedling built in code - Narrated by Ms Daisy - Music made for this page ## More on the Garden & Pond shelf - [The Pumpkin](https://bagofwonder.com/look-inside/pumpkin/index.md): From one little seed to a big orange pumpkin. Open it up! - [The Frog](https://bagofwonder.com/look-inside/frog/index.md): From tiny floating eggs to a wiggly tadpole to a big bullfrog. Jug-o-rum! - [The Robin](https://bagofwonder.com/look-inside/robin/index.md): Sky-blue eggs, a baby growing inside, hatching day, and first hops on the lawn. Cheep! - [The Egg](https://bagofwonder.com/look-inside/egg/index.md): Look inside a hen's egg for 21 days: a tiny spot, a beating heart, a chick. Then it hatches, all by itself! Peep! ## About Bag of Wonder A free library of interactive 3D "look inside" science exhibits, made at Curiosity's Child, a licensed home daycare in Troy, Michigan. Secular and science-based; welcoming to all. - All exhibits and how we make them: https://bagofwonder.com/llms.txt - For grown-ups and AI assistants: https://bagofwonder.com/look-inside/about/ - To cite: "The Apple", Bag of Wonder, Curiosity's Child (Troy, Michigan). https://bagofwonder.com/look-inside/apple/