PETE'S A PIZZA

Especially during these cold winter months, the kids and I love to have great books around us to occupy our free time during the day.  Matt and I are currently using the Sonlight School Curriculum for Oliver (4) and have found the books we have ordered for both the 3/4 and the 4/5 kits well worth the money we have spent!  

This particular book is fantastic!  It is filled with both new and classic stories that the kids want to read over and over again. Each story also includes a story guide that offers ideas for parents to encourage play and discussion after reading.

One of the stories that my kids love to read in this book is PETE'S A PIZZA by: William Steig. I would like to share with you an additional activity that makes this book come alive that is in addition to the activities that this book already offers its readers.

This particular story is about a boy named Pete who can't go outside to play with his friends because it is a rainy day.  "Pete's father can't help noticing how miserable his son is. He thinks it might cheer Pete up to be made into a pizza."  Turning your kids into a pizza will make you both laugh and get you up and moving around!  When you are finished turning them into a pizza (as the book guides you to do) then you can lead them to the kitchen table to make a specialty pizza of their own!

**Teaching Tip: When adding motions/play alongside a story it really helps your children with their story comprehension.  In this particular story you are able to walk through the steps of making a pizza.  This is a great time to introduce the parts of a story to your children. Talk about the characters, the setting, the problem, the beginning, middle and end of the story. Did the problem get solved?  Acting it out will make it easier for them to remember each separate part of the story!

I happened to have some felt laying around my house on the day I decided to make a "play" pizza and simply began gathering different colors and cutting simple shapes to resemble pizza ingredients.  Then I got out a small plastic storage container where the ingredients could be sorted (usually they just throw the ingredients in there in a big pile).

Red - Pepperoni
Black - Olives
Green - Peppers
White - Onions
Cream - Pizza Crust
Grey - Sausage (brown would have been better, but I didn't have it)
Light Green - Sardines
Yellow/Orange - Cheese

This is our Ellie (3).  She and Oliver love to get out the pizza and play!  They often get it out just to take orders for each other and play restaurant.  They also wear their special cooking smocks, because they don't want to get their clothes full of pizza sauce.

**Other Teaching ideas:

1. We play restaurant and the kids take orders and create the pizza.  In restaurant play they have gold coins to be used as money and have to tell me how much money my pizza will cost.  They collect the money, count it out, and deliver my pizza.  
2. This is also an opportunity to teach proper manners for interacting with someone at the store.  It sounds silly, but manners and simple conversation skills need to be taught.
3. Creative Play-they love to get out their toy blenders and my pots and pans to set up their restaurant.  My piano bench is usually their oven and my cookie racks their cooling/display rack.  Creative play is so important for kids development!
4. Sorting- Part of the clean up for this activity is sorting the pizza ingredients back into their container.  A great skill for your Toddler or young student to practice.

**Crafting Tip: I am not the most crafty person in the world but, something I do that has been helpful is collect things like felt, buttons, magnets, pipe cleaners... when I see them somewhere on sale.  This way when I get an idea to make something I usually have what I need in one of my craft drawers or bins.

ENJOY YOUR PIZZA!!