Line Plot graphing with dice could be one of many fun activities to introduce students to line plots. More so, because the ordinary dice is indeed a very versatile object; not just associated with a plethora of board games – but also serves its purpose as an important tool of learning – a math manipulative to be precise.
In last week’s post, I clarified the difference between Bar Graphs and Pictographs and also went into some detail on how to plot data on them. I hope it was helpful to you in some way.
In this post, we’ll look at answering some common questions on line plot graphing.
- What is an example of a line plot?
- What is a line plot graph for kids?
- How do you show data on a line plot?
- How do you graph a line plot?
What is an example of a line plot?
Before we get into the line plot graphing with a dice activity, let’s define a line plot, or what is a line plot graph for kids specifically.
Put simply, a line plot displays data along a number line. A symbol such as a dot or an ‘X’ represents the data plotted on a line plot. That’s why a line plot is also called a dot plot.
Here is a visual example of a line plot graphing activity that involves plotting M&Ms colors. My students love this activity, not only because it’s hands-on graphing, but they get to eat the candy at the end of the activity.
I like to give students the individual M&Ms packs as there are just enough M&Ms to not make the task cumbersome. Students put an ‘X’ to plot each color on the line plot. The template makes it easy to see at a glance which color M&M is the most or the least, or even what fraction of M&Ms are a certain color.
How do you show data on a line plot?
or How do you graph a line plot?
Showing data on a line plot is as easy as putting an ‘X’ or a dot above each category in the data set.
For example, in the line plot graphing activity, we need to find out how many times the numbers 1-6 show up if the dice is rolled 15 times. Consequently, this data (the outcome of each roll) is plotted on a line plot using the ‘X’ symbol.
Now, all we need to do is count the number of ‘X’ symbols to find out how many times a number was rolled.
Then comes the task of interpreting the data collected on the line plot graph.
You can see in this example that the number 3 was the most popular outcome as it was rolled four times. The least rolled number was the number 2 as it showed up just once out of the 15 times that the dice was rolled.
No doubt, these kinds of constructive questions help students reflect on data plotted on a line plot.
Needless to say, line plot graphing also connect to real-life data and makes the abstract more concrete. Other than a dice manipulative to record data on a line plot, your students can also use coins, spinners, domino tiles, and visual cards to name a few.
Free Line Plot Graphing Activity
So, if you’re about to start teaching your students about line plots, why not start off with this hands-on line plot graphing activity using a dice.
The templates are all ready for you to print and assign to your students. All you need is dice – word of warning though, be sure to place bubble-wrap paper on students’ desks to muffle the sound of the dice landing.
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And if you’re interested in having your students practice all kinds of graphs, this mega graph bundle will cover all your graphing needs for the year. There are bar graphs, pictographs, pie charts, line plots and line graphs.
