Pizza Shop Dramatic Play Space

Each week, we focus on a different sound/letter in our kindergarten classroom. This week, to explore the sound/letter Pp we turned our normal home corner area into a Pizza Shop Dramatic Play Space. I love using home corner as a basis for dramatic play centres as many of the resources you need are already there, eg. cutlery, plates, dolls. It was super easy to make other items needed for our pizza shop and the items we made were either low-cost or no-cost because we used recycled items or items that were laying around.

We arranged our home corner furniture to give our pizza shop a front area to order and make pizzas. This area was made using our dress up box as the base and we put pizza bases, toppings and a cash register on top.

We set up a dining table inside our pizza shop so we have a space to eat our pizzas. The children sit down themselves and pretend to eat pizza, or use dolls and teddy bears as their customers.

DIY Pretend Pizzas:

Of course, no pizza shop is complete without play pizzas. To make these, I cut pizza bases out of cardboard from a thick cardboard box. I used a stanley knife to cut these and made them away from any children. Next, I cut red felt in the shape of a circle (slightly smaller than the cardboard base) and glued this to the cardboard using super glue. To make toppings, I cut a range of coloured felt into different shapes. We recycled old Italian Herb shakers and glass jars to keep these toppings in.

DIY Pizza Oven:

Just like the pizzas, our pizza oven was made using recycled materials too. This pizza oven was made by placing two nappy boxes on top of each other and then covering it in brick paper. We cut a semi-circle in each box, making sure it was wide enough for the pizzas to fit through. We added some flames to the back of the boxes using printed pictures and red cellophane.

Our pizza shop also features some menus and labels with relevant words. This helps create a print-rich environment where children can engage with literacy in meaningful ways.

While we explored the sound/letter Pp through engaging with our pizza shop, there was also a range of other learning opportunities.

What did we learn?

• Literacy learning (exploring the sound/letter Pp and having a print-rich environment)
• Self expression through dramatic play
• Cooperative play skills (sharing, turn taking, negotiation)
• Numeracy learning (Counting and exchanging money)
• Language and vocabulary development (engaging with others and using language appropriate for the context e.g. taking pizza orders)
• Fine motor skills (applying toppings to pizza)
• Exploring familiar roles through dramatic play
• Developing an awareness that items can be recycled or reused in play

Please note, this play space was for children aged 3–5. Supervision needs to be present at all time. If you are using glass jars in your play space, you need to consider your child’s individual capabilities.