Bet you didn’t know that was a holiday (sort of). Actually, it’s just a great day to celebrate Math in your homeschool.
Here are some homeschool Pi Day activities for you and your kids to try.
You can’t have Pi Day be without the pie, right? Making a pie (or two or three ) is a a great way to teach your kids both some math and cooking skills. Measuring, fractions, ratios and proportions are all math concepts that can be found in cooking. So let your kids have some tasty fun while learning about math.
Why celebrate with just pie. Why not enjoy some other circular foods too. Here are some ideas.
- Round-shaped cereal
- Spherical fruit like blueberries or oranges
- Bagels with pb&j or cream cheese or chicken salad
- Sandwiches cut round with cookie cutters (perfect for the kids in your house who don’t like crust )
- Circular crackers with cheese spread or hummus or peanut butter
- Sliced carrots, cucumbers, or pickles
That should round out your day with meals. (Sorry about the pun)
Circle Scavenger Hunt
Kids love scavenger hunts. So why not let them go on a hunt for circular objects around your house. Here’s how.
Let each child have a clipboard, paper, and pencil. Tell them to find as many objects as they can that are made with circles (no ovals) or have circles printed on them. They should list these objects. Tell them to be specific. They shouldn’t just write down “lampshade”. They have to say something like “the lampshade on the white lamp in the bedroom”. Set a time limit for 10 minutes and let them go. The one who gets the most right answers wins.
Art With Circles
You can make some amazing art with circles.
Wondering how to help your child draw perfect circles? Household items such as butter tubs, bowls, cans and cups will work.
Or, if you aren’t concerned about perfect circles, he can make them free hand.
These are some projects your kids can make.
Older children can use a compass to make beautiful patterns as my daughter did here. These pictures can be left as pencil drawings or they can be colored in with any medium you like.
A young child can make a cute Pie Tin Face out of round objects. Start with a disposable pie tin and some glue. Then get some assorted round objects such as pom poms, paper circles, spools, round sequins, pipe cleaners made into circles, beads, and buttons. Tell him to arrange the round objects in a way that will make a face in the pie tin. When he’s got it the way he likes, he can just glue them down.
A Circle Collage is an easy project to make. Get a piece of construction paper 12″x18″ in size. This will be the background. Have your child cut out circles in a variety of sizes from different papers including construction paper, wallpaper, scrap booking paper, or old magazines. She can arrange these on the large piece of construction paper anyway she likes. They can be arranged so that they’re overlapping, in a pattern, or she can go completely random. After they are arranged, just glue them on with a glue stick or white glue. Done!
Get Creative With Pi
Would you believe that some people have written poems about pi?
If you have some creative writers in your home, they could give it a shot. They could write an “Ode to Pi” or a limerick about pi.
Musically talented children could write a song about pi. How about “Old MacDonald Had a Pi(e)”?
After doing some research, I found some fascinating history related to pi and Pi Day. I just had to put it into this post. But instead of just telling you about it in a boring way, I decided I would make some trivia questions about it. Here goes.
Can you find the answers to these questions?
- What day is Einstein’s birthday?
- Who was the first person to call the ratio of the perimeter to the diameter of a circle pi?
- Who created Pi Day?
- Which ancient Greek mathematician made the first theoretical calculation of pi?
I’ll put the answers to these on the HomeschoolWithLove Facebook page on Pi Day. Come on by and check your answers.
Sir Cumference Series
If you want to teach your kids about geometry in a fun way, you can read some of the medieval stories by Cindy Neuschwander. She created the Sir Cumference series. This series is full of lovely puns (like Sir Cumference and circumference) and valuable geometry concepts (like how to make a parallelogram into an octagon). Your kids can learn about pi in the book, Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi.
My kids really loved these stories. They are a great addition for any homeschool library.
Buy the Sir Cumference series on Amazon.