Welcome back to another STEAM Saturday! March 14th, or 3/14 is coming up this week. What is special about that day? It is commonly celebrated as “Pi Day,” in honor of a very important number, referred to as “Pi,” which starts with the numbers 3.14. Today, we’re explore this fascinating magic number while creating a Pi Skyline art project!!
So, what exactly is Pi? Pi is a mathematical constant that represents the ratio of a circle’s diameter (the length across the middle of the circle) to its circumference (the distance to go all the way around the circle). Learn more about the history of Pi HERE.
Pi is a very unique number, in that its digits do not repeat, and they continue on infinitely. To demonstrate, Pi to the 39th decimal place is 3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197. In addition to circles, Pi is also used in the calculations of measurements involving curves, arcs, ellipses, and more.
Many people celebrate Pi Day by eating pie, which happens to be a circular dessert. In addition to sharing a tasty treat this Pi Day, consider a fun art project that can help your child discover more about Pi! Here’s what you’ll need to make a Pi Skyline:
- A printout of the number Pi
- Grid/graph paper
- Sharpie or other black marker
- Crayons, markers, colored pencils, or paints for coloring.
First, have your child lay a piece of grid paper on the table horizontally on a table in front of him/her. They should then write each number in the Pi sequence along the bottom row of squares, with one number in each square. Using the black marker, ask your mini-mathematician to color in the number of squares above each number. For instance, if the number in the bottom square is 5, he or she should color in 5 squares in that column. When each column is colored in, the result looks like a city skyline. Once the skyline is complete, your kiddo can go into art mode, decorating their picture to add a sky, clouds, stars, birds, etc. – whatever they think their skyline should look like.
Of course, no one would blame you if you celebrated your artistic masterpiece by enjoying a delicious slice of pie together!
Check out the full activity and some additional variations from 1st Maker Space HERE.
As always, get as creative as you want, and above all, have lots of fun learning together!
We’ll see you right back here next Saturday for another STEAM Saturday activity! Scroll through the rest of our website to learn how Critchlow Adkins is Building Brighter Futures for the children and families we serve!
