The Date Of Easter

[This is a back-issue of one of this site’s newsletters]

Just now, my son asked me when Easter was. He’s looking forward to the camping and the chocolate, no doubt! Your kids (if you have kids) may soon be asking you the same question.

When they do, make it into an opportunity for them to learn some math. I did, like this:

  • Go to Google
  • Search for “Easter Date Worksheet”
  • Look for the link with my smiling face next to it (I’m wearing a red shirt).

Alternatively, bookmark this link. On that page, you’ll find a downloadable, printable easter date worksheet. Enter any year into the box labeled ‘Year’, do the calculations, and the month and day of Easter will appear at the top right.

Or, don’t do the calculations – get your son or daughter to do them.

Along the way, you’ll have opportunities to remind them about order of operations, division with remainders (especially the fact that the quotient can sometimes be zero), and some general arithmetic practice.

The worksheet works for any year at all. Here’s an old video where I show how to use the worksheet, to work out the date of Easter Sunday in 2011.

Have fun!

Yours,
Michael Hartley