Happy Pi Day!  It’s 3.14, so today, you’ve got to teach your kids about Pi with these Pi Day activities!

For every circle, no matter it’s size, the distance around the edge (the circumference) is about 3.14 times longer than the distance across the circle (the diameter).  Pi = 3.14, that amount that it is longer.

Still confused?

Try this:

Get a container from your pantry that is a cylinder shape, like oatmeal.  Wrap a piece of yarn around the canister, and cut it off where it meets.  Now stretch the cut piece of string out from one side of the canister, across it; it will go just a bit longer than 3 times across (3.14 to be more exact!)  And that’s pi!  3.14!

It doesn’t matter how big the circle is, pi is the constant number that shows the relationship between the circumference and diameter of a circle.  You might want to try it with a few different cylinder sizes so the kids can see that it’s the RELATIONSHIP, not the DISTANCE that pi really represents.

In reality, pi doesn’t end at 3.14.  Go visit piday.org to see the first MILLION digits of pi.

Pi Day Activities:

•  Have a contest to see who can recite the most digits of pi from memory.
• Make a paper chain, write one digit of pi on each link
• Read Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi by Wayne Geehan
• See how many digits you have to go before finding all the digits of your birth date.
• Eat pie of course.  But before you eat it, figure out its circumference.

Happy Pi Day!

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