Felt Pizzas

I love making things with felt.  It is cheap, fun, and easy to do.  I made some "pizzas" last week.  They can serve several purposes.  My 2 year old can use them to play with; mixing pepperoni, mushrooms, pineapple, olives and green peppers to make a creative pizza.  The pizza makings are on the smaller side, so this is great for her fine motor skill development.  My 4 year old can use them for sorting and counting.  i.e. "Place all of the pepperonis on this pizza, and all of the mushrooms on this pizza", or "place 3 toppings on each pizza".  My kindergartners (5 & 6 years old) use them for math.  "1 pepperoni + 1 pepperoni = 2 pepperonis".

To make these pizzas, you will need felt in a variety of colors.  I made both dark red and golden pizza circles.  I also used green, black, and gray for pizza toppings.  Find a circular item that would be appropriate for a pizza size.  You could use a bowl.  Trace it onto the felt and then cut it out.  The other pieces are all so simple that I just cut them by hand...variations and odd edges make them unique and more "real" anyway.  Just start cutting out shapes to make toppings like pepperoni, ham, olives, pineapple, mushrooms, green peppers, etc. 

Felt can be found at craft stores like Michael's, fabric stores like Hancock fabrics, and large super stores like WalMart.  A page-sized sheet of felt will cost you just $.10-$.25, depending on where you buy it.  You can also find felt by the yard at fabric stores.  If you plan to use a lot, this will be much cheaper.  Have some fun with felt!