Statistics: Tally Charts and Pictograms
Statistics: Tally Charts and Pictograms is the Year 2 skill of collecting and recording simple data using tally marks, then presenting it as a pictogram, where each symbol can stand for more than one item (e.g. 1 star = 2 votes).
Method
- Start by collecting real data together, such as counting favourite fruits or colours in the family or class, and recording each result as a tally mark, one line per item.
- Teach the tally 'gate' rule directly: draw single strokes for the first four, then draw the fifth stroke across the previous four to make a group of five, which makes counting large totals much faster than counting single marks one by one.
- Move from tally marks to a pictogram, where each row uses a repeated picture, such as a star, to stand for the items in one category.
- Introduce the key as soon as a Year 2 pictogram uses a picture worth more than 1 item, and drill the habit of checking the key first, every time, before reading any value off the chart.
- Teach how to read a half picture correctly, since a picture worth 2 is often shown as half a symbol to represent just 1 item; explain that the half symbol always stands for exactly half of the whole picture's value.
- Practise the two most common statistics questions on this topic: 'how many altogether' (add up every category) and 'how many more/fewer' (subtract one category's total from another's).
- Move from reading a given pictogram to building one from a small set of raw data, choosing a sensible key (e.g. 1 picture = 2 items) so the pictogram is neither too tall nor too short to fit on the page.
Worked example
A pictogram shows the number of pets owned by a class. The key says 1 paw print = 2 pets. Dogs have 3 whole paw prints. Cats have 2 whole paw prints and 1 half paw print. How many dogs are there, and how many cats are there?
- Check the key first: 1 paw print stands for 2 pets.
- For dogs: 3 whole paw prints x 2 pets each = 6 dogs.
- For cats: 2 whole paw prints x 2 pets each = 4 pets from the whole prints, plus 1 half paw print, which is half of 2, so 1 more pet.
- Add the cat parts together: 4 + 1 = 5 cats, so there are 6 dogs and 5 cats.
Practice questions
Type your answer and press Check to be marked straight away, or reveal the answer and mark yourself.
Q1Draw a tally mark group for the number 5. Describe what it looks like.Show answer
Answer: Four single lines, with a fifth line drawn diagonally across them to make a group of five
Q2A tally chart shows 4 tally marks for apples and 3 tally marks for bananas. How many apples were counted?Show answer
Answer: 4 apples
Q3A pictogram key says 1 star = 2 books. A row has 3 stars. How many books does this show?Show answer
Answer: 6 books (3 x 2 = 6)
Q4In a tally chart, cats were counted with 7 tally marks and dogs with 4 tally marks. How many more cats than dogs were counted?Show answer
Answer: 3 more cats (7 - 4 = 3)
Q5A pictogram key says 1 smiley face = 2 children. A row shows half a smiley face. How many children does this represent?Show answer
Answer: 1 child (half of 2 is 1)
Q6A tally chart shows 6 tally marks for red and 4 tally marks for blue. What is the total number of tallies altogether?Show answer
Answer: 10 (6 + 4 = 10)
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a KS1 Maths exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
A pictogram shows favourite fruits. The key is 1 apple picture = 2 votes. Bananas have 4 whole apple pictures. How many votes did bananas get? Show your working.
Show mark scheme
Tick each line you got. Your score builds from the marks on the scheme.
Nothing ticked yet - 2 available
A tally chart of favourite colours shows 9 tally marks for blue, 4 tally marks for green and 7 tally marks for red. How many children voted altogether, and how many more children chose blue than green? Show your working.
Show mark scheme
Tick each line you got. Your score builds from the marks on the scheme.
Nothing ticked yet - 3 available
A pictogram key says 1 ball picture = 2 goals. Team A has 3 whole ball pictures. Team B has 2 whole ball pictures and 1 half ball picture. Which team scored more goals, and by how many? Show your working.
Show mark scheme
Tick each line you got. Your score builds from the marks on the scheme.
Nothing ticked yet - 3 available
Free printable worksheet
Want more practice on paper? Download the statistics: tally charts and pictograms worksheet pack - 8 pages of exam-style questions with a full mark scheme. One email opens every download in this browser for 14 days - no account, no card. Print it for personal and classroom use.
Next topics
Not quite what you needed?
Tell us what is missing on statistics: tally charts and pictograms, or which topic to write up next. Every request is read, and we reply to every one.
Build a full practice pack.
This topic is one of hundreds in the library - pick the ones a student needs and generate a printable PDF in minutes.