Wooden Pizza Party

Wooden Pizza Party - Life-sized wooden hand tools

Melissa & Doug have a lot of different wooden food sets, like Wooden Pizza Party, that are great for creative play. They all include numerous pieces and most even include hand tools, making them also a favorite with OTs. The pieces are all wood and typically well constructed. Wooden Pizza Party is no exception. 

The pizza pieces stick together with round Velcro tabs, and the pizza toppings stick on the pizza with Velcro, three toppings per slice. You can see a white, round piece of Velcro on the side of the piece of pizza that is lifted up (image above). The pizza cutter slips between the pieces and can be used to "cut" the pizza into sections. The first piece may be a little tricky to remove, just because there it not a lot of room to separate the Velcro when the pieces are tightly together. Cut through the Velcro on one side of the pizza and then as you are doing the same to the other side you are actually pushing the first side back against the Velcro again. This won't be a problem after the first slice is removed.

The plate is about 8" in diameter and the pizza is about 7" in diameter.

My biggest beef with Melissa & Doug is the packaging. Sets come in nice wooden boxes, but often without a lid, like this one. Nice if it will be sitting on a shelf, but less so if you carry your supplies from house to house. However, this box has separate compartments for the toppings, good for sorting.

Other wooden play sets in their line include fruit, salad, sandwiches, sushi, cookies, and birthday cake. 

Here is an image of a girl playing with the set so you can get an idea of size.

Try this:

• Top one piece of pizza with three different toppings. Then ask the individual to copy the same pattern on the rest of the pizza pieces.
• Place the toppings in a pile on the table. Order a pizza with a single topping so you can sort out all the mushrooms or all the peppers.
• Lift one piece of pizza with the spatula and carefully carry it to a plate in another location, such as on the counter. Place it on the plate without dropping it. Have six small paper plates lined up and repeat five more times.
• Order your pizza by the slice. Name three ingredients verbally and see if the individual can remember them and make your custom slice.
• Top all six slices with ingredients, but don't make any two the same.
  
• Show the individual one piece of pizza with three ingredients. Ask them to remember the ingredients. Then hide the slice and see if they can make one from memory. Then ask them to remember the ingredients and their locations on the slice and repeat on the rest of the pizza. Players may need to turn the pizza as they go to get the locations correct.
• Make six mystery slices. Place the ingredients face-down on the table. Randomly pick up one at a time and turn it over in-hand, then add to your slice. How many slices did you have to make before you got a slice with all the same ingredient? With one of each ingredient?
  
• Make a real pizza just like it as you play. There are plenty of mushroom and pepper pieces so that you can take off the pepperoni if you don't eat meat.
• Put the toppings away one ingredient at a time. She how many you can stack and then pick you to put in the box. 
  
• Pretend you own a pizza restaurant and sell the pizza by the slice. Make up your own order tickets. Serve up each order on a small paper plate. Practice pouring from a pitcher by setting up a cup near each plate and pouring from a pitcher of pretend soda (water).
• Work on visual discrimination, figure ground, spatial relations, visual memory, auditory memory, manual dexterity, in-hand manipulation, tool use, executive functioning skills, process skills, play and leisure exploration and participation, socialization skills  

In the box: Pizza pan, spatula, pizza cutter, 54 pizza toppings, 6 slices of pizza

If you are interested in purchasing this item or just want more information, click on the image below.

Pizza Pile-Up

Pizza Pile-Up - Don't add one too many toppings

Do you work with kids that have trouble with a graded release? That aren't able to open their hand and gently put something down? That's when I bring out the balance games. They always start with modeling, cueing, and usually hand-over-hand to get the feel of slowly, purposefully opening the hand to release something. After practice, many kids are successful. 

With that said, Pizza Pile-Up is NOT one of those games that I would use for this purpose. Yes, it is a balance game, but the rubbery ingredients slide across the pizza from almost any location, adding weight where you don't want it and therefore tipping the crust and causing everything to fall. I read on Amazon reviews that there was an earlier version that OTs loved where the pieces stayed on as placed. But with this game the pieces only stay put if you pile them right in the middle of the crust. In addition, there's only so many that you can pile up this way before the thing tips, no matter how careful you are. Otherwise, this would have been a fun game. Sometimes when a company remakes a game they change things about it, and sometimes another company takes over and remakes games. Some how the pieces are different in my game, but I don't know if I have the older version or the newer version.

The chef's feet, body and pizza are the three pieces you will stack before playing. They are all hard plastic. The chef's body is weighted and rounded at the bottom. You can't see it, but the chef is holding up one finger and you will balance the pizza on that one finger. Not much of a base of support, so the pizza will tip very easily when weight is added. 

The toppings are a rubbery plastic and include mushrooms, pepperoni, cheese and tomatoes. CAUTION: Monitor for safety, ingredients may look edible to some.

The die is oversized and made of lightweight, hard plastic. The six sides are: tomato, pepperoni, mushroom, cheese, all four ingredients, chef.

Pizza Pile-Up - Don't be stingy with those ingredients

Object:
Be the last person to have successfully added an ingredient before the pizza falls.

Set up:
Place the base (the chef's blue feet) in the middle of the players, place the Chef on top and then balance the pizza crust on the Chef's finger. Scatter the ingredients nearby. 

Play:
Players take turns. Start each turn by throwing the die to determine what you will do.

• If you get a picture of an ingredient, place that ingredient on the crust.
• If you get the picture that includes all four ingredients, you get to choose which one to place.
• If you get the picture of the chef you lose a turn.

The player who places the ingredient on the pizza that makes the pizza topple, loses the game and all others win. Or you could say that the player who played right before this person is the winner, as they were the last one to successfully add a topping.

Try this:

• Start easy by eliminating the chef and placing the crust flat on the tabletop. Skip the die and just practice releasing the ingredients onto the crust one at a time before using a moving/balancing crust. Then practice using the die.
• Skip the game. Sort the ingredients and place them onto the crust by type. For instance, add all mushrooms first, then all cheese, etc.
• Eliminate the base. This will be a more dynamic game as the chef will be even more wobbly as the bottom of the chef is rounded.
• Turn the crust upside down on the tabletop and try tossing the ingredients into it.
• Cup the hand and hold it in that position, rolling the die in it several seconds before throwing. Or sing a version of Muffin Man, replacing muffin with pizza, while rolling the die in the hand to keep the hand cupped longer. Instead of singing Drury Lane, add your favorite pizza shop.
• Play alone. See how many pieces you can get on the pizza before it falls. Then go again and try for one more.
• Pile the pieces on the tabletop during set up so that parts of pieces are hidden.
• Put the ingredients in a bag so that you can't see them. Put your hand in and feel a piece, call out what it is before pulling it out of the bag and placing it on the crust. Or call out the pieces as you want them brought out of the bag. Or get all cheese, etc. Or throw the die to see what to pull out of the bag.
• Place the pieces on the crust to start. Carefully lift off the ingredients, piece by piece.
• Skip the game. Make some pretend order tickets. Give one to the player and see if he can make the pizza. For example, a pizza with half cheese and half mushrooms, or a pizza with tomatoes and cheese only.
• Hold the crust in the non-dominant hand while piling the ingredients on with the dominant hand.
• Make your own pizza after playing. Practice using a knife to cut mushrooms and tomatoes or have them already prepped and layer them. Place them in a certain order to practice sequencing. 
• Make your own crust and make several small pizzas (or use English muffins). Make order cards with the ingredients you have on hand and assemble several small pizzas according to the orders. Add sauce on the order cards as the first ingredient. You can buy pizza sauce in a jar by Ragu. Practice sequencing things in different orders, following the order cards.
• Work on visual discrimination, spatial relations, visual closure, manual dexterity, graded release, balance, executive functioning skills, in-hand manipulation, palmar arch development, coordinated use of both hands, motor planning, eye-hand coordination, socialization skills, process skills, play and leisure exploration and participation

In the box: 1 pizza crust, 32 toppings, 1 Poppa Chef, 1 Poppa chef Feet base to sit on

If you are interested in purchasing this game or just want more information, click on the image below.