Fun Conic Sections Activities

I used to dread teaching conics but introducing these fun conic sections activities into my math classroom has made all of the difference. Read on to find hands-on and engaging ways to teach conic sections to your students.

My first experience teaching conic sections was during my first year of teaching. I was teaching Algebra 2, and I can vividly remember arranging my units during the school year so that conics came last because I was not looking forward to teaching conic sections.

I was always an excellent math student in high school. Usually, math came pretty easily to me, but the first time I ever remember having to study and work hard at math was Algebra 2. Matrices and Conic Sections were the topics that really taught me how to study and practice math.

As a first-year teacher, I was not looking forward to teaching this topic that I had found so difficult to understand and master as a student. Then, I discovered Cindy Johnson’s amazing Conic Cards.

I did exactly what she said to do every day for eight days, and by the end of our conics unit my students were declaring that conic sections were their favorite topic of the entire school year.

Over the years, I have taught conic sections to hundreds of other students in Algebra 2 and now Pre-Calculus since Oklahoma removed conics from the Algebra 2 curriculum. I still love and use Conic Cards, but I have added a number of other fun activities for teaching conic sections to my teaching toolbox.

Hopefully you can find an activity that will make your students love circles, hyperbolas, ellipses, and parabolas as much as my students do!

13 Fun Conic Sections Activities