Activity: Pizza Snack!

Helping others is fun when you're cooking up a yummy snack! Build important social and emotional skills by giving your child and a friend the opportunity to cook up and enjoy a delicious pizza snack together.

Materials:

• pizza sauce and dough (or French bread)
• cheeses, vegetables and meats of choice (Just about anything tastes good on pizza!)

Directions:
Organize ingredients so that your child and a friend (or friends) children can form an assembly line and add ingredients much like a large pizza factory would do. For an added touch of fun, have children wear chef hats and cooking aprons. Cook at 350 degrees until cheese is melted. Option: Ingredients like cooked pie dough, cream cheese, fruits, and nuts can also be used to make a no-bake desert pizza.

Talk about It: Ask your child to express feelings about helping a friend. Then ask what other ways could friends help each other not only in the kitchen, but at school, daycare, and during playtime.

Take it Further: Help your child make a list of things that he/she can do around the house to help someone dear...like a family member or special pet. Then encourage your child to act on these good intentions. Reward helping others with fun parent-child or child-friend activities.

With a Group: Encourage your group to help each other make and assemble friendship necklaces by painting and threading Styrofoam packing pieces (commonly called packing "peanuts"). When peanuts dry, poke holes through the middle of each piece for children to lace with ribbon or yarn. Here's some helpful hints: Wrap the ends of ribbon with tape for enough stiffness to get through the Styrofoam piece; or use a large needle with embroidery yarn for threading. Leave enough ribbon length to tie ends of necklace.