Fun Friday – Make your own pizza.

When the kids were little, one of our favorite family activities was “make your own pizza” night.⁠
Everyone loved it. We loved it because the kids would get involved with a household task (i.e., making dinner) without feeling like a chore.⁠
The picky eaters were satisfied because they had control of their preferences.⁠
And we even made clean-up part of the fun.⁠

Here are a few tips we learned along the way:⁠
If the kids are into it, they can make the dough from scratch with yeast. It is pretty simple and involves some kneading, which is always good for movement and tactile sensory fun. But there is no shame in store-bought dough either. Trader Joe’s has fun flavors. We found 1 package made 2 small pizzas.⁠

The toppings are great fun for the kids. Get them involved in grating the cheese, or buy pre-shredded. Our kids love cheese, so they liked mixing it up with different kinds.⁠ Cheddar, mozzarella, parmesan – get creative. Provolone was a surprise favorite choice.⁠

The best pizza sauce you can find. There is a difference between pizza sauce and regular marinara, BTW. It’s thicker and more concentrated.⁠

Think outside the usual topping ideas – over the years, we have loved: caramelized onions and mushrooms, ground sauteed impossible burger (vegan), goat cheese, balsamic glaze, arugula…it was amazing to see how adventurous the kids got after they were comfortable with the process.⁠

Even our picky eaters chose toppings we would never have thought they would try. ⁠

We would lay out all the toppings in small glass bowls or ramekins on the counter. The assembling process was the best part.⁠ Get creative – have your visual kids make patterns, designs, and faces on their pizzas.

As the kids got older, we even supervised them using the oven and cooking their pizzas.⁠

Let us know if you try this, or better yet, take some photos or a video. Who knows – you could be the next YouTube sensation. ⁠