Pizza Pursuit

by Nicole Blasenak Shapiro

See larger photo

Total Time Needed:: 30 Minutes or less

This game's goal is to assemble a whole pie out of paper pizza slices — and to learn about fractions in the process.

The skills it builds: working with fractions

What You Need

Blank wooden die
Marker
5 drawings of pizzas on card stock or printouts of pizza photographs
Glue (optional)

Card stock (optional)
Scissors
1 paper plate for each player

Instructions

To set up the game, mark the sides of a blank wooden die (available at craft stores) as follows: 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/8, 1/12, and "Take a Piece." Download our photographed pizzas and print them out (if desired, glue the printouts to card stock to make them sturdier) or have players draw five pizzas on card stock circles. Cut one pizza in half, another in quarters, and so on, corresponding to the fractions on the die.
Give each player a paper plate. The first player rolls the die, then chooses the correct-size slice. If a player rolls "Take a Piece," she takes a slice from someone else's plate. As the number of slices dwindles, players may substitute equivalents, taking two quarter slices to make a half slice, for example. If a player rolls a fraction that would result in her having more than a whole pie, she takes nothing. The first player to complete a pie wins.