Easy, Kid-Friendly Lion King Pizza

One of the best ways to creatively engage your kids at home is by cooking with them! Even the youngest children really enjoy helping out in the kitchen, and that’s one of the reasons that we love this kid-friendly, Lion King pizza! This fun and easy recipe would be especially perfect to whip up together with your kids if you’ve seen the new Disney remake of The Lion King!

Kids will love this pizza for three reasons:

1. They can help make it.
2. The Lion King is trending in a major way right now.
3. How many kids do you know who don’t like pizza?

Also, August 10th is World Lion Day, so this pizza would be a great idea for something to make along with lion-themed lessons or crafts.

There are also some different variations you can do with this Lion King pizza recipe, depending on how much time you are willing to commit. If you want to go all-out, you can make your own dough from scratch (a suggested recipe for homemade dough is included below). Or you could simply purchase pre-made dough from the grocery store and let your kids have fun rolling and shaping it!

If you’d like an in-between option (I’m all about in-between options), you can also purchase a pizza dough mix.  I know we have a lot of gluten-free readers, and we haven’t forgotten you, either. I love this flour for gluten free baking if you plan to make your own dough or this mix!

How to Make The Lion King Pizza

To get started, cue The Lion King soundtrack and prepare your dough (whatever that means for the version of this pizza you have chosen.) Set dough aside and preheat your oven to 400 degrees. You’ll also want to make sure that you have a large baking sheet, or pizza stone, at the ready.

Next, prepare a large workable surface for rolling and shaping the dough. I like to put down a large piece of parchment paper and smother it in flour when working with bread or pizza dough. It keeps things from getting sticky and makes it very easy to transfer the pizza later.

Once your surface is prepared, flip out your dough and have fun rolling it out and shaping it (kids of any age love this part!) When you’re done playing with the dough, you’ll want to make sure it has that lovely, circular pizza shape. The thickness is totally dependent on your preference, how much dough you have, and how many people you are feeding!

Pick up either side of your parchment paper and set it on top of your baking sheet/pizza stone (see how that step saved you some trouble?) Slide your crust into the preheated oven and allow it to cook for 5 minutes.

Remove your crust and (being careful not to let anyone burn themselves) load it up with your favorite sauce, and plenty of mozzarella cheese!

Now it’s time to build the face for your Lion King pizza. The face design we have chosen is very simple, and even very young children should be able to help create it! Build the lion’s mane by creating two rings of pepperoni on the outside of the pizza. (I follow a Kosher lifestyle and use turkey pepperoni, but you can use whatever works for you!)

Then use:

• two black olives for the eyes
• a semi-circle (or triangle) of pepperoni for the nose
• thin slices of carrots for the mouth shape and whiskers.

Pop your lion king pizza back into the oven for 5-8 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly!

 

 

Enjoy! Do your kids like to help out in the kitchen? What are some of your favorite recipes to make with young children? 

 Enjoying making themed pizzas? Try out this Cat in the Hat Pizza next!