Learning percentages using our pizza was a fun way to teach the kids without letting them know they were learning.

I cut out cardboard circles out of the one of the gazillion moving boxes still laying around and had one of the kids decorate it like a pizza. I folded a piece of red construction paper many times and drew a circle on it. I had my other daughter cut out the circle to make a bunch of construction paper pepperonis. We also made mushrooms, green peppers, and other pizza toppings.

I made two sets of index cards. One set with only percents on it was for Allison, 1st grade. The second set had percentages on one side and decimals on the other. That set was for Annie, my 4th grader.

I explained the correlation between percents and decimals before even explaining the game. Allie pretty much zoned out during this, but Annie listened intently. If it's not multiplication, she likes math. =)

A percent pizza with .25 red peppers

I told Allie that she was the customer and Annie was the cook. Allie chose two of Annie's decimal index cards and a topping to go with each. Annie had to make the correct pizza or Allie stormed out of the restaurant. (Okay, that was their idea.)

They even added money to this game, making each topping cost a quarter. They played this game long after school was over and even played it with their three-year-old brother, who didn't even eat the pieces.

We added the string as cheese, but to help distinguish the pizzas pieces.

Playing Percent Pizzas