Math is all around us! We use math skills for budgeting, measuring, cooking, and problem-solving. We see math in patterns and hear it in music. It brings order and logic to the world. Because math is fundamental to everyday life, why not celebrate it throughout the year?
What are math holiday & awareness days, and why should you celebrate them?
The calendar includes many special days to celebrate math. This does more than simply recognize numbers. Shining a spotlight on the many facets of math also boosts critical thinking skills, confidence, and creativity. Building math awareness helps students develop a love of math and doesn’t just improve learning. When students feel connected to the content, math engagement naturally happens.
Consider your students' interests since math activities can be designed around almost anything, from sports to science or music. Help them discover how math affects their favorite things and strengthen reasoning skills and critical thinking—the angle of the field goal kick, the measurements for ingredients to bake cupcakes, and spatial awareness for arts and crafts.
Inspiring future mathematicians
The next generation of STEM professionals is sitting in your classroom. They may take what they learned from you and design technological advancements and innovations because you helped them bridge the gap between doing math assignments and understanding the importance of math to life.
Math will help students advance in any future career path. A mathematician doesn’t mean a math teacher. Help students see the many ways they can use math. Nutritionists use math when designing nutrition plans, and physical trainers need to understand how weights and repetitions affect the body. Pharmacists and nurses measure medicines safely. Meteorologists use math and science skills to keep the rest of us weather-aware.
Let’s break down math holidays and celebrate awareness days that go beyond math class. Take a trip through the calendar for ideas to use with your students.
Math holidays & awareness days
January
- New Year's Resolutions: Ask students to set math-related goals for the year, like increased math fact fluency or understanding of fractions.
- Phi Day: The Greek letter phi denotes the ‘golden ratio’ of approximately 1.618. It was last celebrated on January 6, 2018 (1/6/18). The next date with those numbers won’t be for another hundred years, on January 6, 2118. Artists love to use this ratio (long side to short side). The Mona Lisa painting uses the golden ratio in the position of her eyes. Allow students to use the ratio with portraits of their own.
February
- Black History Month Math: Celebrate Black History Month and help your students discover how African American mathematicians paved the way for advancements and innovations that pushed mathematical boundaries.
- E-day: Every February 7, Euler’s Number is celebrated to spotlight the mathematical constant e, which has a value of 2.7182818.
- Valentine Geometry: Explore shapes and symmetry with patterns involving hearts.
March
- Pi Day: March 14 is the date set for this event because 3.14 represents the first three numbers of an almost endless sequence of integers in the Pi sequence. Pi is the ratio between the diameter and circumference of a circle.
- Women’s History Month: Women have significantly contributed to the history of STEM. Help your students dive into the stories behind women who made a difference in math.
- World Maths Day: This is one of the world's largest educational celebrations. Its goal is to connect the global learning community and encourage people to join the global mathematics-related community.
April
- April Fools Day: Pranks with numbers? Why not – as long as they’re not hurtful! Change the date on the calendar. Switch the times for lunch or recess.
- National One Cent Day: April 1 also celebrates the penny. Ask students to research its history. Teach place value using prices and pennies.
- National School Librarian Day: April 4 recognizes the professionals who keep the school library in working order. Visit your library to say thanks and explore books with math themes, like “One is a Snail, Ten is a Crab” by April Pulley Sayre and Jeff Sayre, “Anno’s Magic Seeds” by Mitsumasa Anno, or “12 Ways to Get to 11” by Eve Merriam.
- Math Awareness Month: Every day includes math, from the classroom to the kitchen and the gym, but April is the month to focus on understanding and appreciating mathematics and statistics.
May
- National Weather Observers Day: This is celebrated on May 4. Ask students to track weather patterns for the week (starting May 4), then make charts and graphs explaining their observations.
- Palindrome Day: A palindrome is a word or number that can be read forward and backward and makes the same word or number. Celebrate on 5/20/25, and ask students to find other words and numbers that are palindromes.
June
- Pride Month: Highlight and honor those innovators whose work has greatly impacted the math world.
- Tau Day: Celebrate the mathematical constant τ (tau), equal to 2π, as an alternative to pi (π) in certain mathematical contexts on June 28. The digits 6 and 28 correspond to the first three digits of tau (6.28).
- Perfect Number Day: June 28 also celebrates "Perfect Number Day." Why? It's the only day of the year that involves two perfect numbers: 6 and 28.
July
- National Anti-Boredom Month: The entire month of July is all about busting boredom. Brainstorm different ways to combat boredom. See how big—and creative!-- the list can grow.
- National Ice Cream Month: Who doesn’t want ice cream during the hot month of July? Serve the treat for students to enjoy while they dig into the origins of ice cream, which likely dates back to A.D. 54 to 68. Maybe enjoy some ice cream while brainstorming the boredom busters.
- Research Appreciation Day: STEM concepts rely on research, so July 5 is a day to celebrate the work of scientists and mathematicians.
- Math 2.0 Day: July 8 adds another layer to the celebration of math by adding technology, like ExploreLearning edtech STEM resources.
August
- National Coloring Book Day: On August 2, download the ExploreLearning coloring book and let your students color the characters they love from our math and science resources.
- International Lefthanders Day: This day is celebrated on August 13. It’s a fun topic for polls, ratios, and probability.
September
- Math Storytelling Day: Stories aren’t limited to reading and writing. This day (September 25) is about telling stories through math and celebrating how math helps make daily life easier and more fun. It was created by Maria Droujkova and Sue VanHattum in 2009.
October
- Mole Day: With a mixture of mathematics and chemistry, Mole Day celebrates Avogadro’s constant, which is 6.02 x 1023. Put it on the calendar for October 23 (10.23), and get ready for funny puns and games with the word ‘mole,’ such as whack-a-mole.
- Celebration of Mind (CoM): October 21 is a day celebrated to bring people together worldwide with puzzle games, magic tricks, and math. This day honors Martin Gardner’s birthday.
- World Statistics Day: October 20 is the day to promote the statistics and the work of statisticians. Ask the sports fans in your classroom. They’re guaranteed to love a stats chat!
November
- National Career Development Month: Take the opportunity for students to explore careers in the mathematics field.
- STEM Day: At ExploreLearning, this is our kind of day! Investigate and discover innovations, inventions, and imagination on November 8
- Fibonacci Day: This day is November 23 (11/23). What is the Fibonacci sequence? It’s a series of numbers where the third number is a sum of the first two numbers before it. This sequence of numbers describes a spiral, like the ones you see in nature.
December
- World Trick Shot Day: Thanks to the world-famous Harlem Globetrotters, this is the first Tuesday of December. So get ready for some competitions. How about keeping track of attempts and points from simple games like “trashketball,” using papers already used, or a structured time for landing those water bottle flips?
- Pythagorean Theorem Day: Shine a light on the Pythagorean Theorem on December 16. Students can solve problems with right triangles or create Pythagorean Theorem-themed games.
Support math engagement with our math solutions
Keep the math celebrations going by choosing a Number of the Day. Students can look at factors, multiples, and interesting mathematical facts related to that number. Take it a step further and add online math solutions.
Let Reflex (for math fact fluency) and Frax (for fractions understanding) deliver fun and effective ways to create a positive math culture while building critical skills. Or take advantage of the power of virtual simulations to teach math with Gizmos. Decide which one would work best for your students, and start your free trial today.
