DIY Pizza Oven

We have been on a pizza kick at my house.  My kids are crazy for pizza of any sort, so we extended our pizza exploration into other areas.  We created a DIY Magnetic Pizza Manipulative that we use for subitizing, addition, and patterning.  I am currently working on a set to use for repeated addition. It is such a fun and easy way to play with your food!  You can see the DIY directions here.

 You can get the Pizza pack here.

 This is another pizza pack with thematic dot cards and ten frames.

We had received a package with a huge box in the mail and decided to turn it into a pizza oven.  My kids were ecstatic to be able to make and use their own brick pizza oven.  Our house turned into a gourmet pizza restaurant.



All you need to create this pizza oven is:

-  One large box

- One smaller box to hot glue inside and create the oven.

- Additional cardboard

- Aluminum foil

- Duct tape

-  Construction paper

- Hot glue

- A hook for your pizza paddle

First, you will cut a rectangular hole in the front of the large box.  This will be your opening to the oven.  Only cut three sides of the rectangle, because it will still be attached at the bottom.  This will allow the front of the oven to open and close.

You will create a box inside the box to create the oven.  ***UPDATE*** After lots of use, this particular design failed. Instead of creating a box, just use a small box. It is sturdier and easier to attach. Hot glue (use a lot) the smaller box to the inside of the pizza oven and tape it with metal duct tape. This creates a very sturdy inside to your pizza oven. I will post pictures of this soon.

 Use duct tape to attach the cardboard to the inside of the box.  You will attach it to the large box on all sides of the box.

 Cut the two sides of the box about 2 inches longer. 

 Fold the edges of the box over and affix with tape.

 Here is the completed inside of your oven.

Next, you will create the front of the oven.  Cut a half circle to attach to the rectangular opening.

 Create a handle by cutting two small lines with a razor blade.

 Fold the two edges of the handle and insert through the holes.  Leave about 1-2 inches to fold over on the back.

Fold the edges of the handles over on the back of the drawer.

 Tape the handles down on the back of the drawer.

 You created a handle!

 To make the outside of the oven, attach the half circle to the rectangular opening.  I covered it in duct tape for a more durable oven.

Cover the outside of the drawer with duct tape.

 Cut out white construction paper to make the white background surrounding your oven.

 I rounded the rectangles of the edges.

 I cut out rounded rectangles for the logs and drew lines down the middle with a Sharpee.

 The flames are made with red, orange and yellow construction paper.  I traced the red flame onto the orange paper and made it about 1/2 inch smaller.  I traced the orange flame to create the yellow flame, by cutting it about 1 1/2 inch smaller.

I added packaging from laser toner to the top of my oven for decoration.

 To make a pizza paddle, cut out a rounded rectangular shape with a handle.

 I cut out another rectangle to affix to the pizza paddle.  This strengthens the handle for more use.  ***UPDATE*** With lots of love and use, this pizza paddle got a little ratty. So I just covered the entire pizza paddle with duct tape. This looks cool and makes it very sturdy!

 I used a 3M adhesive hook to attach to the oven.

 Use play food or make your own pizzas out of paper to use in your oven.

 Have a pizza party in your home or class!  I hope your kids love it, too!

Leave me a comment to know what you think!  I love hearing from you!

I linked up with 4th Grade Frolics: Monday Made It!

 

Get Up and Move!!

We are in winter now and it is cold outside!!  As the weather gets colder, sometimes recess and outdoor play is limited.  As a parent and teacher, I know that kids need movement.  They concentrate and learn better when they are able to use their muscles and move around.  What better way to encourage movement, than to include it in your regular teaching routine.  Students don't even realize that they are learning when they are able to move and "play" around the room. 

So some teacher friends and I have teamed up to load you up with resources to make teaching a bit easier!  We've included tons of resources that pair movement with learning and fun.  Grab hold of student's attention with these engaging games and activities!!

 

I have two of my resources in the pack.  They are perfect for winter math!  One of my favorites is Snowball Addition!  There is a variety of centers and games to get your students interacting with numbers.  One of my favorite parts of this pack is the student made number line.  You print out the snowballs and have students create a number line on your floor.  It gets them invested in the number line.

I also provide "focus wands" to get the students to narrow their focus to individual numbers on the number line.  These are easy to make and use. 

There are individual number lines and a large class number line.  This allows students to follow along on their own personal number line.  You can work on addition, greater and less than with these number lines.  I used them with a preschooler, first grader, and second grader.  It was very easy to differentiate for each of their needs.

Here is a student "knocking on" the larger number and counting on.  It helps those kinesthetic learners to physically count on from the larger number.

We played WAR with the numeral cards.  This is great for understanding greater and less than, but still has the novelty of a game.  Moving the focus wand along the number line really helps visual and kinesthetic learners.  They are able to see the physical distance between two numbers and to actually move their focus wands forward or backward.

 We also played WAR (or had a snowball fight, as my kids called it) with addition cards.  Each player flipped over a card, moved their focus wand along the number line to add the two numbers, and determined who had the largest sum.  Great fun!

There is a set of snowball mats included in the pack.  Students will practice addition sentences with, or without, manipulatives.  Students will add sums to 10, sums of 10, doubles, and sums to 20.  We used the snowflake manipulatives that are included, as well as marshmallows.  Can you guess which was the favorite???

 Students will also be able to practice working with missing addends.  Again, there are four different sets of mats: sums to 10, sums of 10, doubles, and sums to 20.  You can differentiate for your students' abilities.

There are also a bunch of Roll & Cover games.  There are three different options.  Choose the one game boards that are appropriate for your students.  I include adding 2 dice.  Students will roll the dice, add the two numbers together, search for the sum, cover the sum if they have it.  First person to cover all their snowballs, wins the snowball fight!

Students can also work on adding doubles.  They will roll one die and add it to itself.

 The last option is rolling 3 dice.  Students can use their number lines to add all the numbers together.

I also have another great pack for getting kids up and moving!  Let's Get Hopping is such a fun way to explore skip counting.  You can check out Emmy Mac's post!  I want to be in her class :)

 

I hope your kids love these activities as much as mine do!  It's great to get them up and moving AND learning!!

Full retail value of $37.25 and only available for a limited time.  $13.99 which is 63% off!  Extreme value alert!

Includes 9 instant downloads and 532 pages of materials including centers, printables, author studies, crafts, lap books, and much, much more.

Academic Concepts Covered

addition to 20

missing addends

number lines

adding doubles

skip counting

subtraction to 10

2D shapes

patterns

story elements

sight words

decoding CVC words

writing

 

Check out the previews below...

 

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