Pi Day Activities

March 14 is National Pi Day. These Pi Day activities will make your students more familiar with the mysterious Pi.

The Pi Day Pie

Teach Circumference, Area, and Volume With Pie Dough

Find the Diameter

Start by measuring the pie plate to determine it's diameter. This can be done in inches or centimeters.

Find the Area

We all know that "Pi R Squared" is the area of a circle, right? This will explain what the area actually is.

Roll out the top and bottom pie crusts. (You can also use store bought pie crusts as a short cut - but you'll need three crusts instead of two.)

The top crust is the area of the circle.

Find the Volume

Use a toothpick or knife to determine the depth of your pie pan. The depth x the area is the volume. This is how much filling the pie plate can hold. (Assuming the sides were completely straight which most pie pans are not. Explain that for our purposes we are doing rough estimations. For certain projects - say constructing space craft for the International Space Station - such rough estimation is not acceptable.

Find the Circumference

You can follow the steps above the acquire thin pie strips equal to 3 and 1/7 of the plates diameter. These can be placed around the edge of the pie as the crust edge. Explain that the edging is the circumference of the pie.

As a short cut, you can simply multiple the diameter by 3.14 and measure the circumference of your actual pie to see they are roughly the same.

Have Your Pi and Eat It Too

Make sure you add the pi symbol to the top of the pie.

The Memory of Pi

Here's a ten minute memory game that is fun for all family members. Yep, Mom and Dad get to play too. The dog, however, can be excluded.

Give everyone a page with pi carried out quite a few digits. Everyone has ten minutes to try and memorize as much of pi as they can. At the end of ten minutes, everyone writes pi from memory.

Who has the best memory?

The Cuisennaire Pi

I'm a big fan of Cuisennaire Rods. They are one of the most versatile math manipulatives you can use. In addition to teaching addition, subtraction, multiplication and place value they can also be used to teach...pi...

Use the numbers to build a "Pi Line." You will have a colorful skyline of the pi.

Combine the rods with the memory game above, and pi becomes a multi-sensory experience.

Albert Einstein Appreciation Day

The genius's birthday was no other than March 14. Rather interesting, isn't it?

Take this opportunity to learn five more facts about Einstein's life and work.

Pi Day Jokes

If anticipating eating the pi day pie got some ooooh's from your kids, you can counter-act it with some groans from our National Pi Day jokes.

What do kids call a fund-raiser they hold on March 14?
Answer: A python

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Who did Lady Diameter want to marry?
Answer: Sir Cumfrence

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Is pi r squared?

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Answer: No. Pi are round.