Pete's-a Pizza! -5yr- Roll a Pizza Game

For my son's 5th birthday, we had a make your own pizza party. 

I sent out invitations that I made on the computer to all his friends and cousins (24 total) that looked like a menu and called it "Jacob's Pizza Parlor".  At the bottom for the RSVP, I said to "Call to make your reservation". 

Realizing that is was cold outside and our house wasn't very large, I needed to be organized and ready for all those kids.  I decorated with red and white checkered tablecloths and green, white and red balloons weighted down by tomato paste cans. 

When the kids came in they received an apron and a name tag. The aprons were made from tablecloth material by the yard cut and I sewed ribbons to the sides and around the neck.   I made the name tags on 3X3 labels on the computer.  It had the kid’s name, pretend job at the "restaurant" and relationship to my son.  The name tags were most helpful to everyone because everyone was from different areas of my son’s life. 

Then they split up into 4 pre-determined groups with six in each group.  There were four different activities going on at one time.  Each group had an adult running that activity.  They were at each activity for 15 min. 

Act. #1: They made their own pizza with large refrigerator biscuit dough, sauce, cheese, and pepperoni.  The biscuits were the perfect size.  I had 6 inch dowel rods for rollers.  They were then placed on foil with their name written on with black marker. 

Act. #2: They played "Roll the Pizza".  I cut out 6 sets of pizza from felt:  The dough (a round circle in tan), sauce (smaller round circle in red), cheese (pieces of off white), pepperoni (small red circles), mushroom, green pepper.  Each kid got their own die because of time restraints and they had to roll #1 for the dough, #2 for the sauce, #3 for the cheese, #4 for the pepperoni, #5 for the mushroom, and #6 for the green pepper. Http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/homemadegames/a/blpiz game.htm?terms=pizza+game) 

Act.#3: They watched a 10 min. video "Pete's a Pizza".  I borrowed it from my library along with other pizza books.  When the video was done, they heard a pizza story. "Hi Pizza Man".

Act. #4:  I printed from my computer on cardstock slices of pizza and had precut pieces of toppings.  Some normal toppings, others were bugs and eyes.  They had glue sticks to use for this activity.  (http://www.makingfriends.com/pizza.htm) (http://www.makingfriends.com/y_pizza.htm).  I had the kids name on the back of the pizza paper before so there would be no fussing around.  When they were done, the adult then placed it in their treat box to take home which also had their name written on the outside. 

After each group rotated to the different activities we then sang Happy Birthday to give the Pizza time to cook. (About 12-15 min.) 

The cake was a sugar dough cookie in the shape of a pizza with pink icing and shredded white chocolate and m&m’s.  

I wrote on the plates before the party each kids name to match up with their pizza to make sure each kid got the right one.  They also had carrots and celery with dip and a juice box.  I ordered large pizzas from a place for the adults and if kids wanted extra.  I also made a vegetable pizza for the adults to snack on. 

My son then opened his gifts while the kids ate their pizza cookie. 

When they left, they got to take home their apron and a treat box that was an actual triangle pizza box from my grocery store.  Inside was different treats-Crayons, fruit snacks, flashcards, and a coloring book that I made on the computer that contained all different pizza pages.  (http://homeschooling.about.com/library/colorp9.pdf) ( http://www.bry-backmanor.org/actpag182.html)  (www.uen.org/Lessonplan/ downloadFile.cgi?file=13914-2-19788-pizza_parts.pdf&filename=pizza_parts.pdf)  (http://www.marcos.com/kidsfun/KidsColoringBook.pdf) It was really cute.  I pasted on the top of each box a red circle that had Jakes Pizza Parlor and a picture of a pizza.  At the bottom, I wrote Thank you for coming to my party). 

The kids were constantly busy with an activity or moving to another so there was no down time.  It was very much like preschool in the pace of the afternoon. The kids went home after two hours and the parents were commenting on how creative the afternoon was days later and how much their kids were talking about it.  The key was to be organized beforehand and to have great help.  The four women that ran each activity were fantastic.  Therefore, I was able to walk around, talk, and make sure everyone and thing was going well.