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Thanksgiving Math Activities for the Classroom

Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and we at MIND have so much to be thankful for. Spreading gratitude and sharing our love for math is what we’re all about here. As families prepare to gather around the table to enjoy their Thanksgiving feast, we’re offering some fun math activities to get students in the Thanksgiving—and math—spirit.

JiJi's Gratitude Coloring Sheet 

Break out the art supplies because JiJi wants to see how creative students can get with this fun coloring sheet. The sheet also includes a writing prompt allowing students to express their gratitude for ST Math.

Download the Thanksgiving with JiJi PDF

(Looking for more coloring sheets to share with students? The ST Math Help Site is home to more fun printables and many other resources to support your ST Math implementation!)

Pi(e) Baking Fun 

Pi Day falls on March 14th (3.14), but we’re always looking for an excuse to bake a good pie. And what better time of year than the autumn season for families to bake a delicious treat and learn together with our pi(e) baking activity?

pi-day-pie-history

Discover Pi in Pies! 

For this activity, all you need is some yarn (or strings), scissors, and a pie—any pie will do! 

You can find the hidden number in your pie by: 

  1. Wrapping a string around the circular object.
  2. Cut the string—this will be the circumference of the circular object.
  3. Now take your string (circumference) and stretch it across the round object—the distance of the string across the object is referred to as the diameter.   
  4. Next, cut as many strings (diameters) as you can.

Notice, no matter what circular object you end up using, you should be able to cut three complete diameters and have a short piece of string left over. So cool!

Alrighty, enough measurement. Time to eat some pie!

Fair Sharing Puzzles for Thanksgiving

Fair sharing is a great topic to bring up for 3rd through 5th graders during Thanksgiving. Fair sharing asks students to divide quantities equally into a certain number of groups. A great introduction to division, fair sharing models have a practical application to the Thanksgiving meal. Because everyone wants their fair share of the stuffing, turkey and (especially) the pie!

Play fair sharing puzzles from ST Math and then extend the lesson with some questions for the class, depending on grade level. These questions can be drawn out visually as individuals or as a whole class:

  • If you have 2 turkey legs and 2 guests who want legs, how many legs should each guest get?
  • If you have 12 rolls and 4 guests, how many rolls can each guest get?
  • If you have 16 servings of stuffing and 7 guests, how many servings can each guest get and what will be leftover?
  • If you have 8 Thanksgiving guests and 2 pies, how much pie should each guest get?

Fair Sharing Puzzles Thanksgiving Activities

Thanksgiving Math Jokes 

Feeling humorous this autumn season? We’ve got a few math-related Thanksgiving zingers that’ll crack your students up! 

  1. What is a mathematician’s favorite Thanksgiving food?  Sweet Potato Pi.
  2. Why was the Thanksgiving soup so expensive?  It had 24 carrots.
  3. Which side of the turkey has the most feathers?  The outside. 
  4. What do you get if you divide the circumference of a pumpkin by its diameter?  Pumpkin pi. 
  5. Why was the math book sad on Thanksgiving?  Because it had too many problems. 

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to share your gratitude to your loved ones. In between the fun math activities and Thanksgiving feast, remember to show those you care about just how much they mean to you.

From everyone here at MIND and your ST Math family, we wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving!

Victor Nguyen

About the Author

Victor Nguyen is MIND’s Content and Community Specialist. Victor is a passionate storyteller with a penchant for creative writing. In his free time, you can find him engrossed in books, going on long hikes, or trying to meditate.

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