Elementary Pi Day Activity | Maze Maker Coding Mission

Pi Day is very important to the fuzzFamily because they love to celebrate their circular shape. Do your learners want to celebrate Pi Day with the Fuzzes and build a maze? All you need is Kodable and an eye for Pi (e) - get it?!

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Your learner's Coding Mission:

Watch the video below to create a Kodable maze that includes a shape you see at the Pi Day Potluck then create a Sequence of commands to solve it!

What is Pi? 

So let's talk circles because there are two important distances that will help us understand what this weird Pi-that-you-cant-eat is all about. The first is the distance from one point all the way around a circle. This is called circumference. The second is the distance across the circle. A fancy math word for this distance across is diameter. Pi is just the relationship or ratio between these two distances. No matter what circle or sphere you look at, the circumference is always a little more than three times the diameter. Instead of saying "a little more than 3" or 3.14, it's easier to use this greek symbol, ∏!

The Puzzling Potluck Pie

Welcome to the fuzzFamily's Pie Day Potluck! All the Fuzzes were supposed to bring a different kind of pie to share. Ruby brought cherry pie, Spike brought pumpkin, Simon has apple, Violet did pecan and…wait a minute - one of these pies is not like the others! blueFuzz brought this mysterious symbol to the party. Ask your learners, "does this look like pie to you?"

Well, it might look different, but this symbol is actually also called Pi - it's spelled differently. There's no "e" at the end - but it sounds the same. The thing is, you can't eat this Pi! It's symbol that represents a very special number that is helpful for solving math mysteries about CIRCLES!

Kodable Puzzling Potluck Pie Party, Elementary Pi Day Activity.
Kodable Puzzling Potluck Pie Party

Time to Celebrate!

Pi is very important to the fuzzFamily because their bodies are spheres! It's a cool thing that every single Fuzz has in common! Fuzzes love to roll and bounce and spin to celebrate their circular shape. 

And it's not just the Fuzzes! Math lovers all over the universe have a holiday on March 14th to appreciate Pi, shapes, and math in general.

In today's Elementary Pi Day Activity, your learners will join the fuzzFamily for this math celebration!

Kodable Elementary Pi Day Activity using Maze Maker.
Create your maze in Maze Maker

The Puzzling Potluck Pie Coding Mission Directions:

  1. Choose a shape.  Watch the Puzzling Potluck Pie Pi Day Coding Mission Video. What shapes you notice during the potluck party? Find the picture at timestamp 3:20 in the video or above in this blog! Pick one and draw it on a piece of paper so you remember what it looks like.
  2. Log into Kodable. If you've already unlocked Maze Maker, you can go straight there, but if you leaners are brand new to Kodable, make sure they start on planet Smeeborg. Players need to complete at least 4 levels to learn about Sequence to unlock the Maze Maker.
  3. Go to Maze Maker. Click the build button to open a new maze. Start by drawing the shape you've chosen! Make sure your maze has a Start and Finish.
  4. Get creative! This is a celebration so don't be afraid to add lots of decorations.
  5. Now it's time to place the three stars in the maze.
  6. Finally, write a program using a Sequence of commands to tell the Fuzz how to collect all three stars and roll to the finish.

Don't forget, in programming and in math, we test, make fixes, test, and try again. So don't give up if your maze doesn't work on the first try!

Teachers and parents, you can share the celebration. Take a picture of your kid’s Puzzling Potluck Pie Maze and share them with us on social media by tagging @kodable. We’ll even repost some of our favorites! 

Kodable Elementary PI Day Activity
Have your learners code their own maze!

How to Share the Puzzling Potluck Pie Coding Mission with your Students

It’s easy to share this Coding Mission with your class by following these steps.

  1. Send the video link to students. You can find it on YouTube or your Teacher Dashboard.  
  2. Instruct students to watch the video. 
  3. After watching the video, students can login to Kodable on their own devices.
  4. Have students go to Maze Maker to create their own maze according to the Coding Mission video! (If Maze Maker is not unlocked, students must complete 4 levels of Smeeborg to unlock it.)

You can also share the video link on student devices.

🌟You're up next! Log in to Kodable, select the Maze Maker, and complete your Elementary Pi Day Activity.🌟