Hands On Crafts for Kids

by Jackie Jernstrom
of Michael’s Arts & Crafts Store
Michaels.com

The origin of the pizza actually goes back to ancient times. but pizza, as we know it, began in Naples, Italy. In the late 1800’s an Italian baker, created a dish for visiting royalty. To show his patriotism the baker chose to top flat bread with food that would represent the colors of Italy; red tomato, white mozzarella cheese and green basil. By the beginning of the 1900’s pizza made it’s way to the cities of the United States, especially New York City and Chicago, through Italian immigrants.

You will need:

12” x 18” Stiffened felt - light blue, red
9” x 12” Felt - tan (2), black, maroon,
grey, green, yellow, light green
Textured paper - white
Drawing paper
Colored pencils
Jumbo craft stick

Silver brad
1/4” Hole punch
Black permanent marker
Ruler
Glue
Scissors

Instructions:

Game Board
1. Cut a 3-3/4” x 12” strip off one end of each piece of light blue stiffened felt. Trace and cut a handle out of each strip. Reserve the remaining pieces for two 3-3/4” x 6” hinges.
2. Center one handle on long side of stiffened light blue felt and glue to the outside edge, overlapping 3/4”. Repeat for second handle.
3. Lay the two light blue sheets of stiffened felt next to each other with the handles on the outside edges to your right and left. Be sure that the handles are glued to the side that is facing up. Fold the remaining strips of stiffened felt from step one in half, lengthwise. Glue to the game board halves. These become the hinges that hold the board together. Turn game board over, and set aside to dry.
4. Measure and cut a 12” diameter circle from drawing paper. Fold it in half. Cut half of the circle from each piece of tan felt for the pizza crust. Line up both straight edges of the crust pieces along center edge of game board. Glue in place along top and bottom curve of crust. Do not glue to binding edge.
5. Measure and cut an 11” diameter circle from red stiffened felt. Cut into four equal sections for the pizza sauce. Place sauce pieces on game board. Make sure rounded edges match, leaving some crust showing around the edges. Glue in place.

Game Pieces:
1. Trace and cut the following games pieces from felt:
12 black olives 12 maroon pepperoni
12 yellow cheese 12 green pepper
12 grey mushroom 1 light green anchovy
2. Punch a hole in the middle of each olive.

Game Spinner:
1. Trace and cut spinner base from textured white paper. Poke scissors through center mark on template. Using pattern and a black marker, draw in lines for sections.
2. Trace the anchovy in the smallest section. Trace the other toppings in the remaining sections. Color in with colored pencils.
3. Draw an arrow on jumbo craft stick with black marker. Measure to find the center point on the flat side of the craft stick.
4. With adult supervision, use scissors to poke a small hole in center of craft stick. It helps to spin the craft stick while you are pushing down with the tip of the scissors.
5. Stick a brad through the hole in the craft stick. Then stick the ends of the brad through the center of the spinner. Bend brad tips outward to secure.

Playing Instructions:
The game is for 1 to 4 players. The object of the game is to build your piece of pizza to accumulate as many points that you can.

Players spin to find what topping piece they can place on their slice/slices. The topping pieces match the color sections on the spinner. Play continues until someone gets the anchovy piece, or the toppings are all gone. If a player spins and the toppings of the matching section are all gone, the player’s turn is skipped. The player with the most points wins!

All topping points are worth 10 points except the anchovy. The anchovy piece ends the game, and the player who spun it gains 50 points.

Strathmore Kids® Series Imagination Pack; Fiskars® Hole Punch, Scissors, Ruler; Beacon™ Kids Choice Glue™