Here is recipe for a real homemade pizza, which can serve to dispel the belief (voiced by several preschoolers I know) that pizza comes "from the telephone". The first step in this pizza recipe is for the grown-up to make the pizza dough.
Makes 4 tiny pizzas

1. Print the recipe so your child can follow along.

2. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Lightly oil a baking tray.

3. Flour a wooden board. For each individual pizza, take a quarter of the dough and roll it out until it is about a centremetre thick. (Note: This is very flexible! It doesn't really matter how thick—or even in what shape—the pizza ends up. You child will love it regardless). Place on the baking tray.

4. Spread 1 tablespoon tomato sauce over the dough. Add 3 slices of courgette and 3 slices of mushrooms. Sprinkle the top with parmesan and a small handful of mozzarella.

5. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until brown on the bottom and bubbly on top.

6. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes, then eat!

This recipe is from Pretend Soup by Mollie Katzen and Ann Henderson; Illustrations by Mollie Katzen

• 1/2 recipe homemade pizza dough.
• Oil for baking sheet
• Flour for rolling out dough
• 60ml tomato sauce (store-bought, or your own favourite homemade)
• 1 very small courgette, thinly sliced
• 125g sliced mushrooms
• 125g mozzarella cheese, grated
• 125g parmesan cheese, grated

• Counting Skills
• Attention to Detail
• Teamwork

If your child wants to help grate the cheese, show he or she how to keep their knuckles away from the sharp edges in the grater.