Pi Day STEM Activities for Kids

Pi Day is one of my favorite holidays to celebrate with kids. There are no concerns about having gifts, no candy to get sugar highs and downs from, and no expectations other than FUN! I have written about Pi Day activities before on my blog but I wanted to share a few more ideas and links.

Why Celebrate Pi Day?

This is a secular holiday. Not celebrating it is a missed opportunity to let students have FUN with math. So many kids dread math, think it’s tedious, boring, or “too hard.”  Experiencing math in a fun setting is a way to light a fire of math love in kids. You can choose the level of rigor your students can handle. It may be that hands-on activities are the way to go, or they may be able to work with formulas. Language opportunities are another reason to celebrate Pi Day – where does “pi” come from, and why do we use Greek letters in math?

Pi Day – Celebrate with Circles

What can you do with circles?

• Create circle art! Find circular objects and trace them. Use different colors and try to create a representation of an animal, scene, etc.
• Measure circles to find the relationship between the circumference and the diameter.
• Bake cookies or pie.
• Explore circle fractions – look at these great fraction circle art ideas from Relief Teaching Ideas.
• Look at pictures of and discuss famous cylindrical buildings.

I have also created a free Pi Day resource that you can download at Teachers pay Teachers. Graph digits of pi, color, and play a game:

Pi Day – Celebrate with Technology

Calculate pi using Python! You can also do this with a spreadsheet as done in this YouTube video.

Using only circles, what digital art can you create? You can even do this in Google slides using the shapes tool. Want a more guided resource? Try recreating famous works of art using only circles with this technology-integrated art resource for pi day:

Pi Day Fun with Albert Einstein

What does Pi Day have to do with Albert Einstein? In addition to Einstein having one of the great STEM minds in human existence, Albert Einstein’s birthday was on March 14th (3.14), Pi Day! Find out more about Albert Einstein:

Albert Einstein Facts

Fun Facts at Easy Science

Albert Einstein toilet tube craft and more

Find an Albert Einstein biography study and create-a-book resource:

Videos about Albert Einstein:

12 Things You Didn’t Know About Albert Einstein

Slideshow about Einstein

Theory of Relativity

Get Dozens of Pi Day Resources and Activities in One Place

If you are hosting a school-wide STEM day or Pi Day celebration, I have created the ultimate way for you to celebrate. There are crafts, art projects, word problems, and hands-on explorations included in this Pi Day bundle:

Pin these ideas for later: