Making pizzas together is brilliant fun for all the family and is a great way to spend some quality time with your children. Why not try this over a weekend or when you have time to then sit down and all enjoy a meal together? Get messy and let everyone eat with their hands (there’s less washing up involved!)
Learning With Pizzas
Making pizzas is not only a fun activity to enjoy as a family but can also serve as a great way to incorporate some extra learning into their day.
You could have a themed afternoon and talk about where pizzas first came from – why not look up where Italy is on a map?
You could use the shape of the pizzas to start discussing fractions of amounts. Your child will quickly note the difference between a quarter and a half! There are so many ways to have fun whilst creating healthy food at the same time.
Pizza toppings are also an excellent way to ensure your child is meeting their daily veggie requirement. Challenge them to put as many colours of the rainbow as possible on top of their pizza – you can include anything from mushrooms, broccoli, capsicum, pineapple and tomatoes.
This is also a great opportunity to discuss with your children the importance of eating fresh veggies every day and how and where vegetables grow.
How To Make Pizzas
Depending on how much time you have available, you can opt to either make your own pizza bases from scratch or use ready-made pizza bases available at most supermarkets.
For the recipe below, we will use Lebanese pita bread for the bases as a healthy alternative.
Ingredients
Serves 2 adults (1 pizza each) and 2 children (1/2 pizza each)
- 3 Wholemeal 20cm Lebanese pita breads
- ½ cup tomato paste
- ½ red capsicum, thinly sliced
- 2 button mushrooms, thinly sliced
- ½ cup diced fresh or tinned pineapple
- 1 tomato, thinly sliced
- ½ cup mozzarella cheese, thinly grated
- 1 handful of fresh basil to garnish
Method
- Preheat oven to 200°C.
- Place pita bread onto oven trays and spread with tomato paste. Arrange all other ingredients evenly over the bases. Top with cheese.
- Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes or until golden.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly. Top with fresh basil. Cut into wedges and serve.
Time Saving Tip!
If you find homemade pizzas to be a real hit with your children, next time you may consider increasing the recipe amounts and packing the leftovers for their lunch the next day.
For any additional healthy recipe ideas or advice, please chat with your centre Educators who will be happy to recommend some tried and trusted recipes you can try at home with your children!
