When working on one of my son’s Kindergarten graphing lesson plans from school, we reached a total impasse. It was confusing and boring (for both of us!). I knew that I could make a more fun graphing activity.
There’s a secret in how to teach graphing to young children. Don’t try to jump right into graph interpretation and understanding. It’s much more helpful if you start at the beginning.
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Easy Graphing Lesson Plans
I’ve done all the hard work for you. Here’s a completely FREE Kindergarten graph packet for you to print out.
So first, let’s gather everything you’ll need:
- Download and print my kindergarten graph activity
- Pencils, crayons, and/or markers
- Ruler
- Optional: glue stick, packing tape, laminator
Although technically optional, I HIGHLY recommend the laminator
It helps me reduce the amount of paper we use (since you can use wet erase markers
Not only is it great for schoolwork, but we also use it to laminate important papers (voters card, insurance stuff in our glove compartments, etc), printables to create games, party and room decorations, you name it!
How to Teach Graphing
For my fun graphing activity, we’re going to be talking about favorite colors of the rainbow.
Start With Gathering Information
It’s best to start at the beginning, with collecting the information.
You can do this one of two ways:
1) Call (or video chat with) family/friends and have your child ask them their favorite color of the rainbow. Mark their answers on the recording grid (page 2).
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2) Have them roll the dice and record their rolls on the recording grid.
You can either secure the tabs of the dice with packing tape (recommended!) or a glue stick.
Make Your Graphs
I’ve included two templates for graphs in my printable, a bar graph and a pie chart.
For the bar graph, show your child how to use a ruler to make the “bars” at the correct heights.
Side note, did you know there’s a proper ruler technique? Turns out you’re supposed to first place your pen/marker on the page where you want your line to start, then place the ruler against it, line up the ruler to the desired ending location, secure the ruler, then draw your line. I’ve been using a ruler wrong for years!
For the pie chart, you need to make sure you only have 12 answers recorded in your grid. Use crayons (or colored markers
Interpret Your Results
NOW we can actually work on higher-level graphing ideas.This is where we ask the questions to make sure they understand what they’ve done.
Here are a few examples of comprehension questions:
- Which color was the most popular?
- What color was the least popular?
- Does a taller bar mean more or less people liked the color?
- How many total people did you poll? Or, how many times did you roll the dice?
- Which graph was more fun to make? Which one is easiest to read?
- How many people liked one of the colors with blue in it?
Repeat
Erase the grid and have your child repeat the activity in a few days and let them work on it more independently to ensure understanding.
The Fun Graphing Printable!
And that’s all there is to it.
Click here to get your FREE copy of this Fun Graphing Learning Activity for Kindergarteners.
