Fall Storytime: Pizza!

I'm glad lunchtime is right after my storytime because this week's stories definitely made me hungry! This week, we talked about pizza. It was our last week for fall storytime. Generally, our storytime series runs a little longer, but with one of our full-timers out on maternity leave this fall, we cut back. Next week, I'll have a look back over our fall storytimes. But this week, I give you my pizza storytime!

Opening Song: Glad to See You

Memory Box: This week's Memory Box item was a pizza cutter from Pizza at Sally's. 

Book: Curious George and the Pizza by Margaret Rey & Allen J. Shalleck. Kids love Curious George and this one is short enough to be a readaloud. 

Song: Baking Pizza. I passed out colorful scarves and as we sang this song together, we pretended the scarves were pizza dough. I did it once slowly to teach the kids the motions and then we did it again a little faster and they loved it!

(To the tune of Shortnin' Bread.) 

I can make a pizza! You can, too!
Listen and you'll know just what to do. 

Every little baker loves mixing, mixing

Every little baker loves mixing dough!

Every little baker loves kneading, kneading

Every little baked loves kneading dough!

Every little baker loves tossing, tossing

Every little baker loves tossing dough!

Book: Pizza at Sally's by Monica Wellington. This book goes through the steps of making pizza, from growing tomatoes and making cheese out of milk to baking it to putting it in a box for delivery. The younger siblings in the room got a little squirrelly during this book, but the older kids were into it. After a longer story, we were definitely ready for:

Song: Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes. I said that since we'd been eating so much pizza this storytime, we needed to do a little exercise and work some of it off. Of course, we sang it regular, fast, and super fast! 

Book: Hi, Pizza Man! by Virginia Walter. This was the runaway hit of the storytime. As different animals (cat, dog, duck, snake, dinosaur, etc.) answer the door with a pizza, we have to greet each one! One of my young listeners said that there should have been a baby at the door one time.

Let's Make a Pizza!

 Felt Activity: Let's Make a Pizza! Super simple. I passed out pieces and when I called out their pieces, kids brought them up and we made our own pizza.

Ending Song:  Do You Know What Time It Is? 

Take-Home Craft: (What else?) Pizzas. We had some cardboard circles left over from something and we pre-cut pieces so that kids could glue it together and make their own "pizzas". Also included in the packets this week was a recipe for making pizza at home, so maybe some of the parents will try that out.

 

Alternate Books:

My thing with pizza picture books is that a lot of them tend to be the same thing over and over: the steps to make a pizza. So, pick the one or two that you like best and supplement with something a little different. Here are some books to consider: 

The Little Red Hen (Makes a Pizza) by Philemon Sturges (probably too long to read straight, but I'd paraphrase or make a felt story)

Pete's a Pizza by William Steig 
Pizza Pat by Rita Golden Gelman. We have a felt version of this story that I had waiting in the wings, but I cut storytime a little short this week since the kids were getting antsy.
The Saucy Scoop on Pizza by Catherine Ipcizade. A nice alternative with photo illustrations and some fun facts about pizza. 

You can also find some fun pizza songs and activities at What Happens in Storytime and check out Katie's flannel The Pizza That Sally Made.