Try this delicious lesson plan to teach students to recognize preschool shapes as they sort through perfect “pizza toppings” and make themselves pizza crafts.

Materials Needed:

• Colorful Construction Paper
• Scissors
• Glue
• Crayons or Markers

Prior Knowledge:

Before starting these activities ask the students about pizza. Some questions that can lead to very interesting discussions could be:

• Have you ever made pizza at home?
• Have you ever watched pizza being made?
• What is your favorite topping?
• How many slices can you eat?
• What is the shape of a regular pizza pie? (Circle)
• What is the shape of one regular pizza slice?(triangle)
• What is the shape of one Sicilian pizza slice? (square)

Read A Book

Read Margret and H.A. Rey’s book "Curious George and the Pizza." Talk about how pizza is made. Discuss the various steps:

• Making the dough-what does it entail? How do you think the dough feels?
• What goes on the pizza-sauce, cheese, toppings?
• Pizza is then cooked-Safety rules here: Always remember when cooking with parent never to touch a stove or oven without an adult’s help.

Making Pizza

Tell the students that they will be making their very own pizza craft. using the colorful construction paper allow the students to choose either a regular slice (triangle) or a Sicilian slice (square). The teacher will have prepared stencils beforehand using the templates below. The teacher will make a few stencils of squares and triangles and hand these out. The students will then choose a color for their "dough" which will be the base for their pizza. Using the stencil students will trace the square or triangle onto the construction paper. With the help of the teacher, students will then be allowed to cut their stencils. Now the dough is finished!

This portion of the activity will help with eye and hand coordination adding depth to the students’ motor gross skills.

Adding Topppings

Explain to the students that they will be using shapes for their toppings. To help assess for identification and counting you can direct the students that you want a certain amount of shapes on the pizza:

• Please put two triangles, two circles, and two rectangles as toppings on the pizza

You can also direct the students to use certain colors, allowing for assessment of color recognition.

• Please put two triangles (one blue, one green) two circles (one red, one white) and two rectangles (one pink, one brown)

The smaller shapes used for toppings can either be made ready beforehand by the teacher or the students can use the stencils below to cut them in class. Allowing for more motor skills practice.

Extension

Allow the students to use other art materials to create their pizzas such as:

• Paint & canvas
• Play Dough

Benefits

This activity will not only allow room for developing the students’ motor skills but will also help to assess for color, counting, and preschool shape recognition.

Stencils