Snip Samp Save: Tryazon _ Numbers Alive Party

Hello,

I was selected by Tryazon and Numbers Alive to host a #NumbersAlive Pi Day party featuring the awesome Pi character and also the Pocket Pi Tape Measure. This program is designed to help teach mathematic concepts using Pi for both children and adults. This program is fantastic because it is a good learning experience for kids of all ages and gives a great hands on way to engage in the activities.

A bit about Numbers Alive from their website:

"Mission: Improve numerical literacy and encourage creativity and global citizenship by visualizing world patterns through fun and friendly number characters.

After more than thirty years of working with and teaching about numbers, Dr. Rebecca Klemm, The Numbers Lady, founded NumbersAlive! as an innovative framework for demystifying numbers and math. Students of all ages join the inquisitive numeric characters – plush toys, puppets, and animated characters – as they explore the relevance of mathematical concepts worldwide."

In the Party Pack we received:

Pi Character with Hat
Pocket Pi Tape Measure
3 Postcards
1 set of 3-D glasses

Prior to the party, Tryazon and Numbers Alive provided a party guide that included four (4) activities to test out at the party using the Pi tools that we received. Reading and understanding the directions took more time than we had expected so we were only able to complete a couple of the activities. The first activity

Activity 1:The first activity involved using strips of paper and tape to put together a couple of rings that you then cup down the middle and turned them to make a square (or, selfie frame). This activity was the most fun because everyone got to make their own creation and then take pictures with it. This activity also took much longer than expected because we had to watch the Youtube video several times then the adults had to go around helping the children and other adults that were struggling. This activity was also fun because we quickly realized that we could be a little bit creative with the cutting and began making squiggly lines and other designs. The instructions say that you can use any sort of paper, which is true but I happened to have a pack of colorful paper at home which made it much more fun to complete the activity. I did not really understand the point of this activity as it did not really involve any math but rather it was just a fun way to introduce the concept of Pi.

Activity 2:For activity 2, we used the pocket Pi tape measure to view the many values of pie. We then got pieces of graph paper and broke into groups where we counted now many times each number value occurred in the set of 100 digits that we were given. This activity was interesting but also did not really teach us really anything math related other than engaging with the value of Pi. It also was not very exciting for young participants to count and graph these values. Additionally, I have expected the result graph to show some sort of pattern but it did not appear to. Maybe we did something wrong but it seemed somewhat pointless.

Activity 3:Activity 3 involved putting on the 3-D glasses then looking at light to make the Pi sign visible in the glasses. I thought these glasses could have been a better quality as many of us had trouble seeing the design.

Activity 4:Activity 4 was to create custom post cards to send to either friends and family, or to send back to Numbers Alive for them to possibly use in future Pi day materials. Through doing the other activities, we ran out of time to complete this one and truthfully, I probably would not remember to send them back anyway so it’s better that we didn’t do it.

Overall, these activities were very fun and some were a little bit tricky at times but we were able to put our heads together and figure out each one of them while also having fun and trying to learn. I had originally thought that this party and the activities would involve math and actually doing some math but they really didn’t at all. If one were to follow the activities exactly as they are written, you would never learn anything about math but I myself was able to involve mathematic concepts with the formulas and teaching the kids how it all works. I wish the instructions would have more clearly stated how to tie in the formula and mathematical concepts into the activities. The activities were all fun but they all seemed to be just a way to get kids excited about the concept of Pi but did not really teach anything material about it. I was honestly surprised that these materials have been used for over 40 years, I felt that the materials seemed a bit rushed and not completely thought out, but one would imagine that 40 years should have been enough time to create effective instructions. I thought this was fun and it did teach my son about Pi in general which is something that he was not yet learning in school but I also felt that it required me to be the teacher and it generated questions that I do not have the expertise to answer myself without a little help from google.