Pi Day Activities

These Pi Day activities will help you get ready to celebrate everyone’s favorite math holiday, Pi Day!

March 14th is the perfect day to teach your kids about Pi, or 3.14.

These project ideas will help bring math to life and are a fun way to make the subject interesting, even if your tweens aren’t self-proclaimed math lovers. So add some to your middle school math lessons.

So choose a few of these to add to your homeschool lessons and have fun celebrating with your middle schoolers. Ready for some math fun?

What is Pi?

Pi is an irrational number and a constant number that will continue on to infinity without repeating itself at any point.

It is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. And no matter how large or small that circle is, it never changes. That’s why it’s known as a mathematical constant. In fact, it’s the best known one in the world.

While it’s commonly known as 3.14, it actually has an infinite number of digits. So, the number Pi offers a great opportunity for any math enthusiast to memorize the decimal places of Pi.

It is an important number in mathematics. It never changes no matter where you are on earth or what math problem you’re solving.

Its infinite digits make it possible to solve for the circumference and area of circles, making it a treasured mathematical constant that is embraced across the globe.

Why Do We Celebrate Pi Day?

Every year on March 14th, we come together to celebrate the universal constant Pi. But why?

Pi Day celebrations give us a reason to explore math theories, have fun with Pi-related activities, and celebrate the concept itself!

It’s a way to bring people together through a shared appreciation of mathematics. 

This annual March holiday gives us the chance to appreciate math’s role in our lives and have fun with math!

PI DAY ACTIVITIES

This year, set down the textbook for a day and rely on a few other methods to get your older students excited about math and Pi.

It’s a great excuse to add some math activities into different subjects.

Here are some unique activities you can add to your homeschooling day, so that everyone will have fun celebrating together. 

PI IN THE SKY

Even NASA gets in on the action when it comes to Pi day. Work on some of the STEM learning activities together. They have a number of interesting math challenges for all different ages, which are perfect for a Pi Day lesson. 

PI BRACELETS 

A fun activity for younger kids is to make math-themed bracelets using the numbers of Pi. All you need is some pipe cleaners or jewelry string and some colorful beads.

Start the bracelet with 3 beads of one color, followed by a single bead of a different color, then 4 beads of another color to create a visual representation of 3.14.

If they have room, they can keep going, adding beads to match additional digits of Pi. 

Pizza

To celebrate, eat some circular foods, like actual pies or pizza. Either make your own pies or order from your favorite restaurant to observe this special day.

Not only is it delicious, it’s a great way to celebrate this Greek letter and math concept.

If you want to get fancy, prepare your pizza into the shape of Pi.

Pi Words

Pi isn’t just for math class. Add it to your language arts lesson plans by having your kids compete in a Pi word contest.

Set your timer to ten minutes and see how many words everyone can come up with that start with the letters pi. 

MEASURING CIRCLES

To begin, have your kids gather a bunch of circular objects from around the house. Then, using a measuring tape, let them measure each of the items.

They’ll take the circumference of the object (total distance around the circle) and dividing it by the diameter of a circle (the line that passes through the center, meeting the circumference at opposite ends).

How often was the answer close to 3.14?

Then, spend some time talking about what they learned about Pi from this activity. It’s an engaging way to get kids involved with math.

PI VIDEOS

On national Pi Day, spend some time learning about this constant through entertaining math videos.

Check out these fun facts about Pi Day, watch Numberphile calculate pi with real pies, or help your tweens learn the digits of Pi thanks to this Pi song.

They all make learning fun.

PI PUZZLE

Print out this puzzle on cardstock and let your kids put it together.

Make it harder by challenging them to assemble it based only on their memory of Pi (instead of how the pieces fit). It’s a unique way to help kids remember the digits of Pi.  

PI Shaped COOKIES

Another yummy way to celebrate math is to make some Pi-shaped cookies. It’s easy for tweens to add their own flair to these sugar cookies.

If you don’t have a Pi-shaped cookie cutter, you can easily make a cardboard template to use.

REVEAL A SECRET

Do you know what you’ll see if you write the digits 3.14 on a piece of paper and hold a mirror next to it?

Your kids will be absolutely mind-blown when they see it spells pie! 

CELEBRATE ALBERT EINSTEIN 

While Archimedes may have discovered Pi long before Albert Einstein was even born, Einstein’s birthday was March 14th, 1879.

Have your tweens do a little research on Einstein and his contributions to STEM and have them present their findings to everyone.

Encourage older kids to use a variety of tools for their presentation, like interactive notebooks, slideshows, videos, or speeches with poster boards.

Pi Day RESOURCES

These items will help make Pi Day even more interesting for your kids.

• Might I Interest You in a Piece of Pi?: A Collection of Pi Puns for Pi Day
• Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi
• Chicken Pot Pi Shirt
• Come To The Math Side We Have Pi Shirt

 Might I Interest You in a Piece of Pi?: A Collection of Pi Puns for Pi Day Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi Chicken Pot Pi Shirt, Funny Math Day Gift T-Shirt Come To The Math Side We Have Pi – Math Geek & Nerd T-Shirt

 

As you can see, there are plenty of fun Pi Day activities you can use to celebrate this math holiday with your kids.

Make math the center of your lesson plan on March 14th with these creative ways to study Pi.

Happy Pi Day!

What are your favorite pi day activities?