When I was in the Primary Presidency we had an annual Primary Program Pizza Party Practice the Friday or Saturday before our Primary Program. The children looked forward to this every year and worked so hard, so it was nice to reward them with a little party. But we didn’t just give them a pizza party….we made them earn it. Today I am sharing our Primary Program Pizza Party Practice idea.
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Before the Pizza Party
When we handed out the Primary Program parts to each of the children/parents (I like to hand the parts to the parent along with a “Save the Date Card, found here), we announced that we were planning on having a Primary Program Pizza Party. As I said, instead of simply having a pizza party, we thought it would be great to have the children earn it.
We explained to the children that over the next several weeks, as we practice the program, they were going to be building a “pizza”. They would earn part of the pizza for doing different things. I created my pizza out of cardstock/construction paper, and it worked great.
Here’s How to Make Your Own Primary Program Pizza!
I used construction paper and cardstock to create my pizza. I first cut a large circle using a tan color (I used a large bowl to trace the circle). Then I used a smaller bowl to trace a circle on red construction paper (this is for the sauce). Using a smaller bowl, I traced a circle on yellow paper (for cheese). I then drew a wavy pattern around the edge and cut it out.
I glued those all together and then cut out 8 slices.
On the left-over red paper I cut out 20 small circles for pepperoni. You could also do olives, bell peppers, mushrooms, etc. I wanted simple, and we had a smaller primary, so I stopped with the pepperoni.We also play a game during practices to encourage reverence. I’ll share that tomorrow. 🙂
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How to use my Primary Program Pizza
During your first practice show the children a blank pizza pan. I cut a circle out of cardboard and wrapped it with foil. Explain that they need to work hard to make a pizza so that they can have a Primary Program Pizza Party. As they do different things, they will be adding pieces of pizza to the pan, and then toppings. You could use this pizza idea any way you’d like, but here is what we did.
You could use this pizza idea any way you’d like, but here is what we did. As a presidency we really wanted the children to memorize their parts so they weren’t all looking down reading or needing an adult to read it to them.
During our practices, if a child came to primary and had their part memorized, they got to add a piece of pizza. We only let them do this once, so that everyone had a chance. To keep track, you could write the child’s name onto the piece of pizza, or write them down each week.
We knew not everyone would be able to memorize their part, so we also awarded pizza pieces/toppings for reverent children, singing loudly, paying attention to the Chorister (we have trouble with the standing and sitting for songs).
The children loved doing this, and always did a fantastic job during practices. Each year we finished our pizza and were able to have our Primary Program Pizza Party Practice.
I hope you like this idea and plan to use it for your own primary. I’d love to hear if you do, so leave a comment letting me know. I am also thinking of creating a printable pizza. Let me know if you’d like that and I will get started working on it. 🙂
Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you enjoy my Primary Program Pizza. Have a great day!
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I was hoping someone had already done this!! We had this idea and have to to make it before church tomorrow (also busy writing parts out, shoulda delegated) so I’m so glad there is someone I can copy. Thank you!!
How do the kids earn the slices of pizza? Do you give them a slice for each practice where every child had their lines memorized? Do they earn a slice for each child that memorized their lines?
Thanks for sharing
Hi et! I think for every child that had their part memorized we added a part to the pizza. We did pizza slices first, then added pepperoni. We wrote the children’s names on the back so we knew who had memorized their parts. We didn’t have enough pieces for each child in Primary, because we knew not everyone would memorize their part, but we tried to make enough pieces to encourage most of them to memorize it. We have also added pieces for songs that were sung well. You could do it several different ways, but that’s what we did. 🙂 Thanks for the comment.
I think we’ll try and do this idea. I”m just going to add a slice of pizza per song. As they get each song down they get a slice added. Each slice will require they know the song, sing loudly, and present reverently. Thanks for the help. Did you ever end up making a print out?
Hi Desiree! I love that this idea is so versatile and can change to fit the needs of anyone. I love what you plan to do. I hope it goes well. I have not made a printable yet, sorry.
HJi Sheena
I was sure I saw helps for the 2019 Primary Program on your site. Do you have a Come Follow Me Sacrament Meeting Program parent letter or program save the date or other helps. Thank you so much!
Hi Deann. I have not shared any helps or invites for the 2019 Primary Program. I have in years past, but I don’t think I will be this year. Sorry.