Welcome to our first Play To Learn Diner activity, where my 6yr old son demonstrated to me how much he actually knows about basic multiplication, division, and fractions by playing pizza parlor. I was reluctant to start off with this topic, but he proved my concerns to be unfounded.
To aid us in this learning activity, Discount School Supply sent us a Cut & Play Pizza set, which comes with a 6-slice pizza held together with Velcro, a pizza pan, a spatula, a pizza cutter, plus cheese and red pepper shakers. This play food pizza was the perfect prop for this activity because there were no loose toppings or small parts to worry about, which made it much easier to focus on the lesson at hand.
Although using the Cut & Play Pizza Set would make this math lesson much more enjoyable, I have provided some free printables below, which can be used to demonstrate these math problems. The first page is a pizza that can be decorated with your child's favorite toppings and colored in before cutting out the pizza slices. The second page is a pizza platter that should be cut out in a complete circle.
(To print, click on each image to enlarge. Then right-click to select print.)
Pizza Parlor Math Problems:
- There are two people at the pizza parlor sharing one pizza. IF one person ate 3 slices of pizza and the other person could only eat 2 slices of pizza, THEN how many slices of pizza are leftover? (6-3)-2=1
- IF 6 people want to share 1 pizza equally, THEN how many slices does each person get? 6 divided by 6 = 1
- IF 2 people want to share 1 pizza equally, THEN how many slices does each person get? 6 divided by 2 = 3
- IF 2 people want to share 1 pizza equally, but also would like to bring 2 slices to their friend who is sick at home, THEN how many slices does each of the 3 friends get? (6-2)/2=2
- There are two people at the pizza parlor sharing one pizza, but they cannot agree on what kind of pizza to order. One person wants plain cheese, while the other wants pepperoni. IF they order one cheese pizza with pepperoni on half the pizza, THEN how many slices will have pepperoni on it? 6 divided by 2 = 3
- There are two people at the pizza parlor sharing one pizza. IF the first person can only eat 1 slice of pizza and the second person can eat twice as many as the first person, THEN how many slices will be leftover? 1 + (2x1)=3, 6-3=3
- There are 12 people at a pizza party. IF each person can eat 1 slice of pizza, THEN how many pizzas would they need? (12x1)/6=2
- There are 9 people at a pizza party. IF each person can eat 1 slice of pizza, THEN how many pizzas would they need exactly? (9x1)/6=1.5
I was in awe that my 6yr old son did not get even mildly stumped until the very last question. Even then, he figured out the correct answer after 3 attempts. I completely under-estimated him.
I cannot tell you how much fun all three of my children are having with this pizza set. Pizza is a universal language, whether you are 3 or 6 years old. So far, this set has provided hours of play daily. My 6yr old used his imagination and built a makeshift pizza oven. They even learned to take turns with their favorite part . . . cutting and serving the pizza.
You can find this and the full line of Angeles Baseline Table and Chairs at DiscountSchoolSupply.com
Thank you to Discount School Supply for providing a sample pizza set free of charge for us to base this article upon.
