12/06/2026
Noticing that many of our tamariki have been enjoying pretend cooking recently, our kaiako Sheng created an opportunity for tamariki to don their own chef’s hats and design pretend pizzas using mix-and-match veggie cut-outs and playdough. Through this fun and creative experience, tamariki explored colours and shapes, learned the names of new and delicious vegetables, and strengthened their creativity and imagination.
This quickly became a favourite activity, with tamariki enthusiastically creating their own pizzas and sharing their favourite toppings with friends – a wonderful opportunity for oral language and communication skills to flourish.
Seeing how engaged the tamariki were, we decided to extend the learning by making real pizzas together! Tamariki helped make the dough from scratch, learning about measurement and why accurate measuring is important for things like dough rising properly. Capsicums were harvested from our own māra (garden), and tamariki took an active role in selecting the vegetables for their pizza toppings. This sparked meaningful conversations about where our kai comes from, nutrition, and healthy food choices.
The experience concluded with a shared pizza lunch, where tamariki proudly enjoyed the delicious results of their hard mahi and teamwork. What a wonderful example of how children’s interests can lead to rich, meaningful learning experiences.
