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Since 1988, math enthusiasts have celebrated Pi Day on March 14. For those of you not familiar with Pi, it’s a mathematical symbol whose first three digits correspond with the numerical date of 3.14.
Okay, I’ll admit that math has never been one of my strong points. If you have any former math teachers among your residents, I’m sure they can do a much better job of explaining the significance of Pi. Or, you can find a good general description of Pi on this math site.
But, no matter how much we do or don’t understand the concept, Pi Day remains a fun day to celebrate in our senior living communities. Here’s how:
Exercise your brain
I’ll bet some of your residents had to memorize Pi when they were in school. Find out how many of the sequence of numbers they can still remember.
Did you know that Pi and pie are homophones? These are words with different spellings but similar pronunciations. Get a group of residents together for some friendly competition and see who can come up with the most homophones. Check out this list for lots of other examples.
Another option is to come up with as many words as possible that begin with pi (picnic, picture, pin, etc.) Or, you can narrow down the options by only using food words that start with pi (pickle, pizza, pineapple, etc.)
Wear purple clothes
Invite residents and staff to dress up in purple on March 14. Why this color?
The tradition of wearing purple on Pi Day began with a group of meteorologists in 2018. They wore purple to encourage more women to enter STEM careers (science, technology, engineering, and math). You can check out more details on the Forbes website.
(If you want your very own Pi Day meteorologist’s dress, it’s still available on Amazon!)
Talk about Pi
Your residents will get a kick out of these silly Pi Day jokes from Grammarly. For example, did you know that the official animal of Pi Day is the pi-thon?
You’ll also want to share some Pi Day trivia. Do any of your residents remember that the value of Pi was a factor in the O.J. Simpson trial?
Enjoy a slice of pie
You can’t celebrate Pi Day without enjoying a delicious slice of pie. Options include:
- Serve a variety of pies for dessert, or as an afternoon snack.
- Bake pies as a group activity.
- Host a homemade pie cook-off for your staff.
- Sell slices of pie as a fundraiser.
While residents enjoy their pie, encourage them to share stories. For example:
- Who remembers classics like vinegar pie, shoofly pie, buttermilk pie, or mincemeat pie?
- What’s the secret to making a perfect pie crust?
- Does anyone have a story about a pie that was a total flop?
- What kind of pie was their favorite when they were growing up?
Create poetry
Residents who enjoy poetry will have fun coming up with Pi-ku instead of haiku. Unlike traditional haiku, Pi-ku consists of lines of syllables that correspond to Pi. For example:
- First line: 3 syllables
- Second line: 1 syllable
- Third line: 4 syllables
- Fourth line: 1 syllable
You can continue with however many lines you wish. Whether their poems are serious or humorous, I know your residents will enjoy this creative challenge.
Make Pi bracelets or necklaces
Assign numbers to different colors of beads, then string them according to Pi. For example, you might use 3 red beads followed by 1 yellow bead followed by 4 blue beads. You can also do this with colored cereal and hang the bracelets in trees for the birds.
What else do you plan to do on Pi Day? I would love to see your suggestions in the comment section!
Are you looking for even more fun holidays to celebrate in March? Then you’ll want to check out my master holiday list.
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