Paper Plate Pizza Math

1. Give your child 3 paper plates. Ask them to color the plates to create 3 pizzas with all their favorite toppings! (If you want to get fancy, you can even cut out some toppings from construction paper or use paper shreds as cheese.) 
2. Adult: 

                    Pizza 1: Leave whole.

                    Pizza 2: Cut in half.

                     Pizza 3: Cut into quarters.

           3.  Put each pizza back “together.”

                    -Point to Pizza 1, telling them that this is a whole pizza. 

                     -Point to pizza 2, explaining that it’s  cut in half, but two halves together, make one whole pizza.

                    -Then explain that the third pizza is cut up into four pieces. Each piece is the same size and when each piece is the same size, we say they are equal. When you put those four pieces together, they make a whole pizza too. Explain that when four pieces make a whole, each piece is called a quarter of the whole pizza.

            4.  You could then play “pizza shop” and ask them to give you half of a pizza, a whole pizza, or a quarter of a pizza and so on…You could even extend the lesson and exchange play money for your pizza, if you’d like.

NOTE: If they don’t get it, that is totally okay! This is just a little activity to introduce the general idea of fractions, but certainly not intended for mastery. It’s fine if they don’t even seem to understand it at all. The activity is not wasted… it’s a good way to introduce new vocabulary (i.e. the words half, halves, quarter, equal), practice some fine motor skills, and have fun. If you would like to save your “pizzas,” this could be an activity that can be reviewed every few days for a minute or two. You could play “pizza shop” for a daily review time.