Five Minute Math- Making Graphs Meaningful , an easy and fun math activity for families

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Graphs and charts are a great way to display information, but all too often the examples children see in school lack true relevance to their daily lives. In this week’s five minute math, we sort something meaningful and use a bar-chart to visualize the results.

What you need:

• Paper (larger poster-sized paper works best)
• Coloring Materials (my personal preference is markers, but anything will work)
• A ruler/ straight edge (optional, but useful)

How to do it:

1. Select something to sort- it should be meaningful to your child and should have more than two obvious characteristics. You can go on a data gathering expedition first (counting the number of each color car in your neighbor hood or observing the bugs in your garden) or select something special your child already has at home.
2. Decide on a characteristic and start storing. You can sort by size, color, shape, or anything else that is easily identifiable. My daughter, for example, chose to sort her Pokemon cards by type. Ask you child to make a prediction- which category do they think will have the most?
3. Count and record the amount of items in each category.
4. Create a bar chart- each category gets its own “bar” and the height of the bar tells how many objects are in that category.
5. Talk about the chart with your child. What does it show us? Does it make information easier to understand? Were you surprised by the results?

If you tried this activity, I’d love to know how it went. Rate the activity below and tell us more in the comments. And don’t forget to follow us on social media for more great content.