thanks so much everyone! I splurged and bought a food mill from Amazon tonight and this will help with keeping the kids involved and part of the process. I figure I can use the mill for other cooking duties in my kitchen anyways

anna, if you want a crock pot recipe with apples, you could make apple butter. Adjust recipe to suit; this makes 3/4 of a crockpot's worth.

5.5 apples, cored, peeled, chopped (time consuming and my students can't help with this)
cinnamon (can add nutmeg ) 1/4 c. sugar

Put on high for an hour then on low for 12. It smells amazing. I made it at home and then the kids made crepes to go with it.

I found a great recipe on the first grade parade blogspot

We use the old-fashioned sieve too! I boil the apples ahead of time so they are a bit easier to mash up. We don't use a crockpot when we use the sieve. I've used a crockpot before and added Red Hots for a bit of cinnamon flavor (and a pinky color.)

Same here as Sbkangas, but with one difference. I bring in my great-grandmother's apple sieve thingy. This way the kids get to actually have a hand in making it.

Ours is just cut up however many apples were donated, add some water, sugar, and cinnamon, and cook on high for as long as we have that day. It seems to turn out every year even though we don't use any specific measurements.

Does anyone have a successful crock pot recipe for making applesauce in the classroom? I haven't done this but would love to try it!