On March 14 at 1:59pm, folks from all over the world celebrate “Pi Day” with games, activities, and pie-eating contests. Here are my best resources for showing kids how pi shows up in the real world and also how to learn about pi in a way that not only makes sense but isn’t flat boring.
Pi is a number (slightly greater than 3) that shows up when you divide the circumference of a circle by its diameter, no matter what size the circle is. It also shows up in other shapes like spheres, ellipses, cylinders, and cones as well as unusual places like summation series, number theory, probability, bell curves, and the Fibonacci series.
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http://youtu.be/IZTro1gezxc
Materials:
- This worksheet (all pages)
- 3 tennis balls in a can
- Box of toothpicks
- Chalk (optional)
Click to download the Pi Day Workbook to celebrate Pi Day here!
Questions:
1. Tennis Ball Can: Is the height of a tennis ball can greater than the circumference? (Hint: Circumference = 2 π r)
2. Toothpick Challenge (called Buffon’s Needle)
a. Number of Toothpicks Tossed?
b. Number of Toothpicks Crossing a Line?
c. Ratio: Tossed/Crossed ?
3. Using a calculator, which is closer to the real value of pi?
a. 22/7
b. 355/113
4. Play “Pi-Opoly” with friends (in the printout).
5. Enjoy the additional pages, such as the coloring page, crossword puzzle, word search, cootie-catcher, and more in this packet!
6. “Pie” ideas: Pizza pie, chicken pie, berry or fruit pies, chocolate pie, shepherd pie, and more!
7. Are you into music? Here's a neat video about pi using musical notes:
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