First graphs: teaching kindergartners to count and graph

A graph is just counting, written down so you can compare. Kindergartners can do it — they just need to start with real things.

Start with real objects

Tip a handful of crayons on the table. Sort them by color into rows, one crayon beside the next. Count each row. Ask: which color has the most? The fewest? Are any the same?

That is a graph. The rows are bars, and the longest bar wins.

Lifehack: use snack time. Sort a handful of colored cereal or fruit snacks into rows before they get eaten. Kids will count very carefully when the prize is eating them.

Then on paper

The jump to paper is one idea: a square stands for one thing. Color one square for each red crayon, one for each blue. The row of squares is now the row of crayons.

This is exactly what the kindergarten standard asks (K.MD.3): sort, count, compare. Graphs proper come in first and second grade, with reading questions like "how many more?"

Count, then graph

Our Count and Graph sheets put a scatter of one picture — fish, rockets, balloons — in three or four colors at the top of the page, and a graph lying on its side underneath: one row per color, with the colored picture at the start. Count each color, color that many squares, and compare.

What to ask after

• Which color has the most? How do you know?
• How many more red than blue?
• How many are there altogether?

Each question is a different math skill — comparing, subtracting, adding — all from one graph. For older children, Bar Graphs has a full set of questions, and our post on how to read a bar graph walks through them.