Picture graphs worksheets

A picture graph counts symbols instead of gridlines, and the key is what makes it math: five circles mean five when each stands for one, and twenty-five when each stands for five. Free printable sheets, with an answer key.

Picture graphs
Picture graphs worksheet — Each symbol = 1, 2, 5, or 10, free printable with answer key

The answer key prints on a separate page.

What's on this sheet

The symbol is a plain filled circle on every one of these sheets, and that is deliberate. A picture graph is counted, so the mark has to look identical every time and stay countable when it is small — a detailed character reads as several different things in a row of ten, and it ties the data to a mascot rather than to what is being measured.

Why this sheet works

Every row holds whole symbols only. Half a symbol is a real convention and a real source of quiet wrong answers on a generated sheet, so the numbers behind these graphs are always whole multiples of the key — the key can say “each stands for 5” and mean exactly that.

How this one works

Pets in our class

key:1 = 2 pets
Cats:10 drawn20 pets
Dogs:9 drawn18 pets
Fish:6 drawn12 pets
Birds:4 drawn8 pets
Cats:10 drawn20 pets
Dogs:9 drawn18 pets
Fish:6 drawn12 pets
Birds:4 drawn8 pets
Birds
  1. Check the key FIRST. One picture stands for 2 pets, not one — so counting pictures gives you the wrong number unless you multiply.
  2. So multiply each row by 2: Cats has 10 × 2 = 20, Dogs has 9 × 2 = 18, Fish has 6 × 2 = 12, Birds has 4 × 2 = 8.
  3. Now the question, on the NUMBERS rather than the marks: Birds (8). So the answer is Birds.