"Did you have fun at the apple orchard on Saturday?" Nina asked Izzie.
They were on their way to Kids Central.
"It was so fun!" Izzie said.
"We picked all kinds of apples.
Green, yellow, red . . .
And we put them in cute wooden barrels."
The girls walked into the gym.
"Oh! Just like those!"
Izzie pointed to a small barrel on the table.
It was filled with apples.
"Welcome, girls," Miss Shelly said.
"I went apple picking this weekend!"
"Me too!" Izzie told their teacher.
"The apples are for our activity today," Miss Shelly said.
"Let me guess.
Are we making applesauce?" Izzie asked.
Miss Shelly grinned and shook her head.
"Apple juice!" said Nina.
"We're making apple stamps to decorate lunch bags," explained Miss Shelly.
"How do you make an apple stamp?" asked Ethan.
"You cut an apple in half and dip it in paint," Miss Shelly explained.
"Then you can use it just like a stamp.
First we'll stamp the lunch bags.
Then you can glue beads and buttons on them too.
First cut the apple in half.
Then press the cut-side onto a paper towel to dry it off.
Ethan, would you please pass the paper towels around?" Miss Shelly asked.
Izzie glanced at the jars of paint.
"What colors are we using?"
"We have all the basic colors," Miss Shelly said.
"If you want to make more colors, just mix them!
Ready to start?"
"I want to make the perfect green," Izzie thought.
Miss Shelly passed out paper plates for the paint.
"Press your apple into the paint.
Then press it firmly onto the fabric," she said.
"Hold it down for a few seconds.
You want to make sure the whole stamp stamps!"
Izzie poured blue paint onto her plate.
Then she added some yellow and mixed.
Next she added a little white.
Finally she was ready to paint.
She dipped her apple in the paint and stamped.
She was pressing and pressing when her hand slipped!
"Oh no!" she cried.
"Ha-ha! It looks like a shooting star," Ethan said.
"A shooting apple!" Bobby said.
"Miss Shelly, Izzie made a cool shooting apple!" Nina said.
"It doesn't look cool," moaned Izzie.
"It looks dumb!"
"Well, I think it looks cool!" said Nina.
"I'm going to make one too!"
"I think your apple stamp looks very artistic," said Miss Shelly.
"Thanks," Izzie said.
"But I'm going to make a regular stamp now."
She stamped her bag again.
This time it was perfect.
"Ta-da!" Izzie held up her bag with one shooting apple and one regular apple.
Next Izzie made a tiny stem and a leaf with beads.
Then she wrote her name at the bottom of the bag.
She wanted everyone to know this was her very artistic lunch bag.
Later everyone sat on the rug munching apples.
"Ha! This apple is a funny shape," Jason cried.
"It's not a funny shape," Izzie said.
She looked at Miss Shelly and smiled.
"It's artistic."
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