THE PI BAKERY MIX-UP: a Pi Day math escape room game for Grades 6, 7 and 8
It is Pi Day at the Pi Bakery in Dunmellow Oasis, beside the golden pyramid, and the big pie sale opens at 3:14. But last night the delivery van hit a bump in the sand and mixed everything up: tins, labels, sale stickers and order slips. Crews work with Pemmet the hedgehog, the head baker. Six places in the bakery are six stations, and each gives ONE number. In the finale, the six numbers become the six slices of a pie chart with 100 notches round its crust: if the last cut lands back on the star, the first five cuts point at five letter tiles, and they spell the password to the pie case.
THIS IS A PRINTABLE ESCAPE ROOM GAME for a classroom (4 to 6 teams) or for 1 to 6 students at home. It is not a book and not a worksheet pack: crews move around six stations, write their numbers in a Mix-Up Log, and crack one last lock together. Everything is paper: no padlocks or boxes needed.
HOW IT PLAYS (65 to 80 minutes, or two shorter lessons)
- Story and warm-up: two little pyramids that teach the rules of the day (add up, and pie tins whose diameters add up)
- Six stations, about 8 to 10 minutes each; every crew starts at a different one
- The Pie Chart: cut six slices round a 100-notch crust. Six right numbers make exactly 100 and the last cut lands on the star; one wrong number misses it, so crews know to look again before they ever read the password
- The first five cuts point at five letter tiles: the password. Certificates for everyone
Two Levels, One Answer Key
- Hand Pie cards, Grades 6-7: dividing fractions, unit rates, percent off, radius, diameter and circumference with pi = 3.14, one- and two-step equations, whole-number reasoning
- Deep Dish cards, Grades 7-8: unit conversions (kg, quarts, cups), negative numbers, percent from a sale price and a saving, area (A = pi r squared, answers in pi), square roots, x on both sides, a system of two equations, the degrees of a slice
- Both levels of a station give the SAME number, so mixed classes play side by side and you check everyone with one key
Six Stations, Seven Kinds Of Puzzle
- 3 kinds of math pyramid puzzle: the Mix-Up Stack (a finished add-up pyramid with two labels swapped: find them), the Tin Stack (a pyramid of pie tins labeled by radius, diameter, circumference or area: every tin's diameter is the two under it added) and the Pie Path (a pyramid maze of pie cards: carry the pie down only onto cards where C = 3.14 x d, or A = 3.14 x r x r)
- 3 bakery mix-ups: Pantry Check (how many whole pies can the pantry make: ratios and fractions), Sale Tags (which sticker belongs to which pie, with one percent off for all) and Order Slips (smudged order slips as equations)
- 1 pie chart finale: The Pie Chart
- 1 more kind of math pyramid, the Area Stack (tins whose AREAS add, not their radii), is in the free bonus folder with three bigger puzzles: 4 kinds of math pyramid puzzle in all
- Stations are numbered from the easiest to the hardest, as our AI test solves ranked them
- Every card sits one step below the top of its level, so a crew can finish it together
Skills Practiced
Radius, diameter, circumference and area of a circle with pi, dividing fractions, unit rates and unit conversions, percent off and percent of a price, writing and solving one- and two-step equations, equations with the variable on both sides, a system of two linear equations, adding integers, square roots, circle graphs and degrees. A skills page lists the US Common Core codes for each level (a planning guide; not endorsed by the standards' authors). Lengths are metric; the recipe uses cups, quarts and tablespoons.
WHAT YOU GET (instant download, 4 PDF files)
- Full kit, US Letter (39 pages)
- Full kit, A4 (39 pages)
- Projector slides, 16:9 (12 slides: story, mission, rules, move signal, countdown, the Pie Chart, the case opens, answers)
- Tablet edition with tap-to-jump hint and answer buttons (classroom play needs the printed cards)
- Free bonus folder (QR code inside): The Second Batch (4 fast-finisher cards with answers and hints) and ink-saver editions of every page
Inside The Kit
- For the teacher: what to print and how many (with sheet counts for one level and for a mixed class), a room plan, an 80-minute and a 65-minute plan by the clock, a step-by-step script that also works without a projector, skills, a 4-page answer key with solved pictures, 3-step hint cards for every puzzle (where to start, the method, the worked answer)
- For every crew: mission page, Mix-Up Log with the warm-up and three hint spoons, crew badges and job cards (Reader, Recorder, Checker, Runner)
- For the room: six full-color station signs
- The puzzles: 12 station cards (six stations, two levels) and two Pie Chart cards
- Two-up certificates with type-in names
You Will Need
Printer (color looks best; ink-saver pages are in the bonus folder), paper, pencils, a ruler, scrap paper, a clock and tape for the signs. 30 to 40 minutes to print and set up the first time. Every crew writes on its own cards (or use plastic sleeves and dry-erase pens to save paper). Calculators are your choice.
Good To Know
- Digital download only: nothing is shipped.
- Print at 100% (actual size), single-sided.
- Play times are plans, not promises: classes differ. Hints keep every crew moving.
- Not tested with a class: it was solved and set up from the printed pages alone by separate AI sessions, and their notes were acted on.
- Made for Pi Day (March 14), and just as good for a circles, ratios, percent or equations unit, test-prep review, end of year, summer school, a math club or a party.
- Every pie in the bakery is vegan, made only from plants.
- Love math pyramids? Creouts Publishing also publishes math pyramid puzzle books in paperback: see creouts.com/pyramid-puzzle-books/.
License
For one teacher's own classes, or one family or club. Print as many copies as you need for your own students. No resale, sharing, uploading or claiming as your own; no AI training.
Digital download, nothing is shipped. Because files can be copied at once, we cannot take them back after download; if something is wrong with your file, write to us and we will fix or refund it.
