Practice Math While Making Peg’s Perfect Pizza

Baking with your child is a great way to introduce math concepts like counting, measuring and telling time.

Before You Play

Tell your child that you’re going to make a pizza together. Ask, “What shape is a pizza?” Then ask if he knows that pizzas don’t have to be round. Have him name some other shapes a pizza might be.

Materials

Directions

If using store-bought dough, follow the package’s instructions for getting dough ready, then jump down to step #12.

Combine the brown sugar and 1 cup of warm water in a large bowl.

Then add the yeast and stir until it’s dissolved. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes.

Add olive oil, honey, and salt.

Add 2 cups of flour and stir.

Add the last two cups of flour and 1-4 more tablespoons of water (as much as necessary to mix flour completely)

Knead until all the ingredients are combined (about 5 minutes). Dust your hands in flour while kneading to keep the dough from sticking to your hands.

Brush all sides of the dough in a bowl with 1 tablespoon olive oil.

Cover the top of the bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel on top.

Set the bowl in a warm place for 1.5-2 hours, until the dough doubles in size.

Once the dough has risen, split it into two even balls and knead each for a few seconds.

Place the dough balls on a plate and cover with a towel again for 20 minutes. Then they’re ready to roll! If you don’t want to make two pizzas right away, wrap one ball of dough in plastic wrap and place it in a sealable plastic bag. The dough can stay fresh for several days if refrigerated.

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.Ask your child to name some different shapes. Then, ask him what shape he would like his pizza to be — a circle, triangle, square, a parallelogram or maybe even a hexagon! Except for the circle, ask him to count how many sides these shapes have. See the diagrams below for some creative ways to shape and cut your pizza.

Help your child roll out the dough into the shape he has picked. Make sure the dough is rolled out thin — it will rise as it bakes.

Pinch the dough around the edges to make the crust.

Sprinkle cornmeal on a baking sheet, and then put your pizza dough on the sheet.

Spread on the pizza sauce. Then let your child add his favorite toppings. Count them together as you go. For a little extra flavor, sprinkle on a little dried basil and garlic powder. Then, sprinkle 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese over the pizza.

Bake it at 450 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. When the crust is light brown and the cheese is melted, your pizza is ready!

Take the pizza out of the oven and put it on a cutting surface. Be careful, it’s hot! You can slice your pizza in all different ways, depending on its shape. All different shapes can be divided into triangles — even a square, parallelogram or an octagon!