The first week of each school year, TOG recommends reviewing geography terms.  I found a great site where one can make colorfully picturesque  flashcards. I printed these out and then laminated them.  

     While my kids were learning these in our first year of TOG several years ago (that translates into no pictures; that was my personal era before owning a digital camera), I was making homemade pizza for lunch. Before I tell you my crazy idea, perhaps I should relate a bit of history. Ever since my kids were quite young, I'd let them play with the dough and make their own pizza.  Because my son was diagnosed FTT (failure to thrive) at age 9 months and had fallen off the growth chart for weight, I was always looking for ideas to entice him to eat.  Letting him play with his food in a productive way, I hoped, would be the perfect enticement. Therefore I looked for ways to have him help in the kitchen. Furthermore both of my kids had Sensory Integration Disorder issues,  so I was always on the lookout for texture activities. Well, I felt as though I hit paydirt when I realized I could achieve even schoolwork (geography terms) with pizza dough!  Hence my crazy idea for pizza dough geography!

     I called the kids down and told them we were having pizza for lunch and they could make their own. I heard rousing cheers from the two young ones.  However, first I wanted them to  use the dough to review their geography flashcards, which were still sitting untouched in the school basket.  They looked at me as though they knew Mom had definitely lost it this time.  But game as always, they ran upstairs to get the cards while I portioned out the dough and an area for them to work. We looked at each card and discussed each feature while they duplicated each geographical shape with their dough.  Because these cards were actually review from a previous curriculum and preparation for previous geography bees, it was truely a review and we easily got through all the cards. For students newer to the terms, these could easily be done a few at a time, through the course of the year.  There is truely no need to master every term the first week of school.  

     When each of the terms were finished, I told the kids to now make their pizza and I got the homemade sauce, grated mozarella cheese and pepperoni ready. I assumed my kids would make the usual circles/ovals for their pizza. Oh no!  They made geography pizza!  They decided to now shape their pizza into their favorite geographical shape!  Giggles ensued while creating their masterpieces. My daughter made an atoll pizza, whereas my son made a barrier reef pizza.  They told me those were the best pizzas they had ever eaten!