This fun pizza game will keep your child’s interest and attention while developing math and fine motor skills! The game is simple and inexpensive to prepare, yet durable enough to withstand lots of use. Plus, there are numerous ways to adapt this game so that it can grow along with your child’s developmental and academic progress. Keep your child excited about learning with this hands on game!
Materials Needed
1 sheet of red felt (the sticky back kind works best)
Scrap pieces of various colors of felt for the toppings
1 round cardboard piece
Small plastic cups
Plastic tweezers
Pizza box (optional)
How to Construct
Cut the red felt piece in a circle to match the size of the round cardboard piece and stick on top.
Cut out the toppings from the other colors of scrap felt into different shapes
Separate “toppings” into different cups and place to the side of pizza inside the box
How to Play
There are numerous ways to adapt this game for your child depending where he/she is developmentally and academically. Listed below are a few of the most popular ways to play the game.
1. Counting Toppings- Write numbers on slips of paper and place the numbers inside the topping cups, then have the child place that amount of toppings on the pizza.
2. Shape and Color Recognition – Cut different shapes out for the toppings and ask your child to place specific topping shapes or colors on the pizza
3. Addition/Subtraction- Instruct the child to add or subtract toppings to the pizza to develop addition and subtraction skills
4. Fractions-Divide the pizza up into halves, quarters, sixths, etc…and have your child only place toppings on that portion of the pizza to develop division and fraction skills in a hands-on manner
Developing pincer grasp
Have your child use plastic tweezers to pick up the toppings and place them on the pizza using his/her pincer fingers (thumb and index finger). This action will help to develop the child’s pincer grasp which is essential for:
-Feeding tasks
-Toy and object manipulation like building blocks, turning pages, holding items
– Self-care tasks like snapping, zipping, buttoning
-Pre-writing skills such as pencil grip
-Toy and object manipulation like building blocks, turning pages
-Pre-cutting skills such as scissor grasp and manipulation
Leave me a comment and let me know how you adapted this game to meet the needs of your little pizza baker!