Making Pizza with Kids

by Andrew Clark

Kids love spending time in the kitchen if you can make it a fun, interactive and yummy experience. Creating mini pizzas is a great way of engaging kids; so pull out your aprons and get cooking.

When cooking with children it’s important to let them get their hands messy and experiment a little. Kids love to pour, measure, mix and taste their own pizza creations. Unfortunately, kids can’t be counted on to be neat in the kitchen, so a little relaxation and patience will carry you a long way.

Safety First in Pizza Making:
Pizza making offers a good opportunity to discuss kitchen safety with children. You can discuss points like kitchen dangers; think knives, boiling water, etc. An alternative to lecturing is to give frequent reminders of what is okay to touch and what they should stay away from. You will also want to establish kitchen rules, like washing hands and not touching the stove or electric mixers.

Integrate Learning in Pizza Making:
At this point, you have already taught the kids about kitchen safety, but there is a lot more that you can teach when making pizza with children. School age children can use their math skills as they help measure and combine ingredients. Just think of all those wonderful fractions that need to be added, reduced, etc.

You can also take the opportunity to talk about good nutrition by discussing the ingredients you are choosing and why. Also, don’t be afraid to add fresh vegetables, you’ll be amazed what kids will eat when it’s covered in cheese and on top of a pizza they’ve created.

Pizza Making Quality Time:
Probably the best reason to make pizza with kids is for the quality time. Think about how much fun a mini pizza assembly line is, especially when the children are in charge of choosing their own crusts, cheeses, sauces and toppings.

Be sure to compliment the child on a job well done and offer your child the first taste of the pizza. Ask what they think and you may even consider having them judge the pizza on the taste, dough, toppings, etc. This will give them a chance to figure out what they might change for next time.

Here are some easy pizza recipes and pizza dough recipes that you might consider making.