A Pi Day Scavenger Hunt
- Math Medic
- Mar 10
- 2 min read
March is a tough month. That 500 year stretch before spring break can be a real slog, but luckily, smack dab in the middle of the month we have every mathematician’s favorite holiday – π Day!
To celebrate, we partnered up with our friends at NumWorks to create an activity you can use in your classroom. It’s a scavenger hunt that will get students out of their seats and thinking about the wonders of π. The questions in this activity are accessible to Geometry students and beyond. With some support, they could even be used in middle school and Algebra 1!
Here’s How It Works
Prep: Print the scavenger hunt (we like to print on colored cardstock) and post the papers around the room. Be sure to mix them up and NOT post them in the same order as they appear in the file. Print a copy of the recording sheet for each student.
Play: Students should work in pairs to work through the sequence of problems as they travel around the room. Students can start at any station and the answer choices will determine where they go next. Have students record the letters of each station in the order that they visit them on the recording sheet. Checking work is incredibly easy! The correct order of stations should spell N-U-M-W-O-R-K-S. Since students can start at any station, their answer might start at a different letter and loop around (example: ORKSNUMW would be a correct solution). If students return to a station they already completed before having gotten to all the problems, they will know there is a mistake in their work somewhere.
The Questions
Students will be dealing with circumference and area of circles in this activity, as well as areas of sectors. And of course, we wouldn’t pass up an opportunity for students to engage in a bit of proportional reasoning! You’ll notice that a few of the questions refer to some of the cool features of the NumWorks calculator. If your students don’t have NumWorks calculators, no worries! You can use their online calculator or the links directly in the activity.
Download the Activity
Looking for more Pi Day activities? We love this NumWorks investigation that has students discovering π with their favorite round snacks!