Playing with Pizza
These activities are great for having fun with one of the most
popular foods. Plus, they are yummy to eat and great for small families
or large groups!
Basic Pizza Dough – This recipe can be prepared by children
with adult supervision and used as a base for other pizza activities.
You can also choose refrigerated dough for quicker and easier
activities.
Dough Ingredients
- 3 cups warm water
- 1 tablespoon yeast
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 8 cups flour (more may be needed to reach desired consistency)
- 2 tablespoons cornmeal
Preparation Procedure
- In a large bowl, combine water, yeast, sugar, and salt
- Let sit 10 minutes or until you see bubbles of yeast
- Mix in flour. Keep adding until dough is not wet looking and can
be kneaded.
- Knead dough until smooth.
- Let dough rise at for one hour at room temperature.
- Pre-heat oven to 475 degrees.
- Roll dough according to the size of your pan
- Sprinkle corn meal onto pan.
- Place dough onto pans, stretching or squeezing if necessary to
fit properly.
- Add sauce and toppings.
Bake for 8-12 minutes, or until dough is fully cooked. The bottom of
the pizza should be at least a little crispy.
Prepping Toppings – Kids can help prepare toppings for a
family pizza night. The oldest kids can help cut peppers, pepperoni, and
onions. They can also help pre-cook sausage, chicken, and other meat
toppings. Younger children can help shred cheese and tear up pieces of
basil. The smallest helpers are great for sorting, measuring, and
placing the toppings on the pizza.
Pizza Around the World – This is a great way to make pizza
educational. It is also a fantastic activity for experimenting with
creative pizzas. To start, have your child pick an area of the world or
a specific country. Then, let the child come up with a list of
ingredients associated with food from the area. For example, Mexico
might mean salsa and cheddar cheese, Germany may mean sausage, Hawaii
could be pineapples. Then, come up with a creative pizza using toppings
from your chosen area. You can take this activity even further by
letting kids research where the foods they are using actually come from.
Pizza Faces – Kids can use healthy vegetable toppings to make
faces on their pizza. You can either make one big pie or smaller
personal pies for each child. Some suggestions for making faces are:
- Hair – shredded spinach, strands of spaghetti squash, shredded
carrots
- Eye – Pepperoni, tomato slices, olives, fresh mozzarella
- Nose – basil leaf, pepper slice, anchovy
- Mouth – Pepper slices, sausage pieces, sliced onion
Pizza Balls – Do you have leftover dough from a pizza
activity? Use it to make some yummy pizza balls! Take 2 inch balls of
dough and sprinkle with garlic, basil, and oregano. Then, bake until
just golden. It is that simple. Other variations including filling each
ball with a small piece of meat or cheese. You can also roll balls in
parmesan cheese prior to baking, or dip them in sauce when they are
done. |
