Pi Day and Birthday Wishes

We celebrated Pi day today in all it's circular glory. We explored circumference, diameter and radius measuring different lids with string to demonstrate Pi. The kids were amazed that regardless of the lid size the same (well close to, our mesuring was close) number resulted. Ben was in disbelief and did a double check! We played with compasses, our circles and the geometry shapes. This lead to talking about how both types of compasses are used on a ship, the maps coming out, a ship out of blankets being built and a route being followed while I made lunch.
After lunch we pulled out the spirograph for creating circle masterpieces. The kids really love using it, as much as I did as a kid. The pie plates came out for a craft. We put paper circles inside the pie plate and rolled marbles dipped in different color paint over the paper. There were only two runaway marbles which I thought was pretty good :)
While the paint dried we looked at some websites about the birthday boy himself; Albert Einstein and re-read The Magic School Bus and The Science Fair Expedition by Joanna Cole . It does a great job explaining how scientists work builds on each other. We didn't get a chance to make pie but a good friend brought over some heavenly chocolate mousse which we were more than okay to substitute!