Free Pi Day Challenge Activity for Students
Looking for some fun Pi Day activities for your middle school students this year! Pi Day is March 14th, and it is the perfect time to take a little break from your normal routine and have fun with your students. Be sure to try out my Free Pi Day Challenge Activity and my new Pi Day Bingo Game with your students. I also included several other engaging Pi Day activities that I have used with students below!
With Pi Day right around the corner, I thought it would be a good time to share this fun challenge! It's pretty basic, but there is a ton of math involved and it has proven to be really engaging for students. I usually start Pi Day by reading the book Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi, written by Cindy Neuschwander. It really is a great book that shows how pi is found, which is by dividing the circumference of a circle by its diameter!
In this challenge, students do exactly that! The activity includes four circles of difference sizes. I make a bunch of copies of each of the sizes. Students, in partners or individually, must pick a circle to use for the challenge. Once a circle is picked, they grab some yarn and a ruler. The challenge is to measure the circumference of the circle (using the yarn as picture below), measure the diameter using their ruler, divide, and see which group can get the closest to 3.141592...! After doing this for a few years now, here are a few tips. First, depending on your class, you may want to review measurements and the fractional parts in between each inch or centimeter. They will want to be as exact as possible and don't want to become frustrated if they don't understand how to measure their dimensions accurately! Second, when measuring the circumference, you don't want to pull the string too tight when straightening it out. You want to straighten it out (so you can measure it), without pulling it too tight and adding extra length that isn't actually a part of the circumference!
Looking for more fun ideas and activities for your math classroom to finish out this year and look ahead to future years? Check out my middle school math Mega Bundles for grades 5-8. This middle school math mega bundle blog post has all of the details of what is included. These include hundreds of engaging math games, task cards, scavenger hunts, and other activities to go with any curriculum. You will never have to search for math activities again. 😁