Pictograph maker for kids

What the pictograph maker does

A pictograph, or picture graph, shows data with small pictures. The key says what one picture is worth. On this page you choose a data set (Pets in our class, Favorite fruit, Books read this month, Cans collected for the food drive, or Our favorite colors) and a key where each picture stands for 1, 2 or 5. In Make it, you tap a row to fill pictures up to that spot, tap the last picture to take it away, or use the plus and minus buttons. When each picture is worth 2, tapping the last picture turns it into a half picture worth 1, and tapping the half takes it away.

Press Check my pictograph to see which rows match the table. In Read it, the finished pictograph is shown and you answer questions such as how many in a row, how many in all, how many more and which is the most. Wrong answers get another try, so children can recount using the key.

Why build the graph yourself

Children who build a pictograph learn that a picture can stand for more than one thing. Turning 7 votes into three and a half pictures makes the key feel real, and seeing that 40 cans would need 40 pictures shows why people use a bigger key. Building also links graphs to skip counting: reading a row of 5-pictures is counting by fives.

Common mix-ups

• Counting pictures instead of using the key. Four pictures with a key of 5 means 20, not 4.
• Thinking a half picture is worth half of 1. With a key of 2, a half picture is worth 1.
• Answering how many more by counting both rows. How many more is the difference between them.
• Ignoring the key altogether. Encourage children to read the key out loud before answering any question.

A 10-minute pictograph routine

• Choose Favorite fruit and read the table together.
• Set each picture = 2 and ask how many pictures 8 apples need, then build that row.
• Ask what to do about 5 bananas. Let the child discover the half picture.
• Finish the rows and press Check my pictograph.
• Switch to Read it and answer three questions, saying the key each time.

Where it fits by grade

• Grade 1: organize and interpret data with up to three categories and answer how many in all and how many more (1.MD.C.4). Use each picture = 1.
• Grade 2: draw a picture graph with a single-unit scale for up to four categories and solve compare problems (2.MD.D.10).
• Grade 3: draw scaled picture graphs, where one picture stands for several things, and solve one- and two-step how many more and how many less problems (3.MD.B.3). Use keys of 2 and 5.
• England calls these pictograms. Year 2 interprets and constructs simple pictograms, and Year 3 interprets and presents data in pictograms, bar charts and tables.

Learning more

Reading pictographs uses skip counting, addition and subtraction, which are skills on Eurekami's skill map, and Daily Practice brings them back for review when they start to fade. Teachers can print worksheets with answer keys, and lessons draw diagrams live from the numbers in each question.