SHAPE PIZZA SHOP

What do you make with a big box? Ask a 4 year old and it becomes a Pizza Shop! Of course you have to make it educational as well. In this pretend play activity children will review their shapes, cutting & tracing skills, and numbers. Age recommendation 2 years old and older.

Materials:

• brown box(s) (depends on size)
• big plastic lid (for pizza crust template)
• small plastic lid (for pepperoni)
• pen or pencil (to trace)
• scissors
• watercolor or tempera cake in red
• paint brush/water cup
• construction paper – one sheet of each (yellow, white, red, green, brown, pink)
• plastic bowls (to put toppings in)
• toppings labels (see below)
• pizza sign
• order form #1 or #2

Pizza Order Form/Shape Review

There are 2 order forms. They are based on skill level. The first option only has 3 choices (basic shapes) and the second option has 5 shape choices. You could start by playing with the basic and then once your child knows the shapes, use the second option. Or just start with the second option if they already know the different shapes.

I recommend printing in black/white because you’ll go through a lot of order forms. Click on the gray buttons below for a copy (labeled Option #1 & Option #2).

Let’s start creating Pizza!

Step#1: Make the pizza “dough”. With a pen or pencil, trace a lid (we used a to go container lid) onto the cardboard multiple times and cut out.

Step #2: Add Sauce! Paint the inside of the cardboard circles (dough) with a smaller circle in red. Make sure to leave room for the crust on the outside. Let dry.

Step #3: Toppings! Ask your child to name toppings that come on a pizza? Do any shapes look similar to the toppings?

• Depending on skill level, you may have to help your child/children cut out the shapes. It’s a lot of cutting, so you might also want to space it out to avoid children losing interest or getting frustrated.

There is an extra label box, to create a topping of your own too.

Cheese: What shape and color is cheese on a pizza? Rectangle! Cut the white and yellow construction paper into strips. Once complete, then have your child cut out rectangles from the strips of paper to make the cheese. If easier for child, draw lines to make the rectangles/to cut on line with scissors.

Pepperoni: What shape and color are pepperoni on a pizza? Circle! Trace a small lid several times on red paper to create the pepperoni. Then cut out the circles. We used a plastic milk container lid. *See note under Mushrooms to do quicker.

Peppers: What shape and color are peppers on a pizza? Rectangle? Square? Triangle! Since we already made cheese into rectangles, we are going to make peppers out of triangles. Cut the green paper into strips. Then draw diagonal lines to create the triangle shapes (or a zig-zag line). Then cut on the diagonal lines to create your peppers.

Ham: What shape and color is ham on a pizza? Square! With the pink construction paper, cut strips again. Then cut out squares (very similar to the cheese, just squares now). If easier for child, draw lines to make the squares/to cut on lines with scissors.

Mushrooms: What shape are mushrooms on a pizza? Ovals! Ovals are the closest shapes to mushrooms (their tops). On a scrap piece of paper draw an oval and cut it out. This will be your template (like the lid for pepperoni). Trace it multiple times on your brown paper. Then cut out your ovals.

You could also cut out rectangles like above for cheese and glue onto the ovals to look more realistic.

*Note: To save time you can fold paper in half, then in half again (fourths). On the top of the folded paper, trace the template multiple times and then cut out (making sure paper stays folded). This can be done with the pepperoni too.

Optional- Pizza Oven: With the extra cardboard we created a mini pizza oven and tray. I cut one of the top sides off the box to use. We drew the tray on cardboard, cut it out, and then painted it black with tempera cakes. For the oven, we made it into a triangle and put red paper in the base to look like a hot over.

Shape Pizza Kitchen Pretend play time!

Time to get busy making pizza. My daughter used the rest of the cardboard box we had as the Pizza Shop (see picture below). She decorated the box “to make it look nice”. You can make it anywhere in your house, you don’t need a box.

Print out the order forms above and either have people or stuffed animals fill them out. We have done both. When we played with two other kids, they rotated taking turns ordering and making the pizza.

Younger kids will need more help making pizzas. Start with small numbers (1-5) for the toppings. Have them if able, write the numbers next to each topping on the order form. Once all toppings complete, have them identify the number next to the first topping and what shape/topping it is. Then have them count out aloud the topping, as they add to the pizza. Repeat for each topping. Then place completed pizza in oven.

To challenge older kids- ask them how many toppings total are on each pizza or ask them how many of 2 or 3 toppings total are on their pizza.

Enjoy & have fun creating!