Pizza Parlor Pretend Play & Craft

My son is all about pretend play and we had so much fun yesterday mixing art and pretend playtime as we played Pizza Parlor. I hope this post shows how low key pretend play can be and still be fun. I know that sometimes pretend play can be hard for some parents to get into but when you play scenarios like this one it’s easy to be a customer and the play helps kids try on different roles, get comfy with social interactions, and be in control of things they are normally not.

1. Gather your materials. You will need some paper plates, sticky back foam, crayons, and scissors for the pizzas. The extra props like the pizza box came from our local store and the oven was made from a box, a marker, a sheet of construction paper, and tape.
2. Start by cutting or having your child cut the foam into pizza toppings. We made pineapple, pepperoni, green peppers, and olives.
3. I made the oven by flipping a box over, cutting one side out and adding some buttons and clock on a sheet of construction paper, and then taping it on.
4. First, call in the order
5. Start making some pizza – my son started by throwing the dough.
6. Add the sauce with crayons.
7. Add the toppings.
8. Pop it in the oven!
9. Into the box and into the delivery car. We played for a long time calling in different types of pizzas. He never made me pay for my orders saying pizza was free every Monday, Tuesday, and all weekend.  Now that is my kind of pizza!

Book

Pizza at Sally’s is another great look at a small business owner , and how she does her work everyday and feeds the masses with her yummy pizza! I like how it not only explains how to make pizza but it also looks at the ingredients and how they are grown and processed.  Of course it’s not explained in depth but it is explained enough to start a dialogue with interested preschoolers for further investigation.  My son loves the cat in this book, the same cat is in many of the other books but for some reason he particularly loves its presence in this one. It’s inspired me to make the dough from scratch with my son next time we have pizza!  A lovely book!