Year 3 maths · Key Stage 2 · Statistics

Year 3 bar charts, pictograms and tables: a guide for parents

In Year 3 children collect, read and draw bar charts, pictograms and tables, using scales that go up in twos, fives or tens rather than ones. They answer questions such as how many more or how many fewer, sometimes in two steps. The skill is as much about careful reading as it is about calculating.

Bar charts, pictograms and tables, explained

Data is information that has been collected, such as how many children in a class like each flavour of ice cream. A table is the simplest way to show it, with the categories in one column and the totals in the next. Children often collect data with a tally chart first, grouping the marks in fives, and then turn the tallies into numbers for a table. They also read tables with more than one set of numbers, for example the number of boys and girls in each year group.

A bar chart shows each category as a bar. The height of the bar tells you how many, so you read across from the top of the bar to the scale on the side. In Year 3 the scale goes up in steps, for example in 2s, 5s or 10s, and not every line is labelled. Children need to work out what each unnamed line is worth by looking at the numbers that are labelled. On a scale labelled 0, 10, 20, a bar that stops halfway between the 10 and 20 lines is worth 15.

A pictogram uses pictures or symbols to show the data. In Year 3 one symbol often stands for more than one thing, which is shown in a key: for example, one symbol could mean 10 children. A half symbol then stands for half of that number, which is 5. Children must read the key every time because the same picture can mean different amounts in different charts. When they draw pictograms, the symbols need to be the same size and evenly spaced so that rows can be compared fairly.

The questions get more demanding as well. A one-step question might ask how many chose dogs, or how many more chose dogs than cats, which means finding the difference by subtracting. A two-step question needs two calculations, such as finding the total for two categories and then comparing it to a third. Children are encouraged to say in words what the question is asking before calculating anything.

Presenting data is the other half of the skill. Children choose a scale that suits the biggest number, label both axes, give the chart a title, and draw bars of equal width starting from zero. They look at data from lots of contexts, from weather records to sports results.

Words your child will hear

Data: Information that has been collected, such as counts, measurements or votes.
Tally chart: A way of counting by making marks, with every fifth mark drawn across the four before it.
Pictogram: A chart that uses pictures or symbols to show numbers.
Key: The part of a chart that says what one symbol or square stands for.
Scale: The numbers along an axis, which may go up in 2s, 5s, 10s or other steps.
Axis: One of the two lines along the side and bottom of a bar chart that carry labels and numbers.
Difference: How much more or less one amount is than another, found by subtracting.

What the National Curriculum says

In Year 3, pupils should be taught to:

Interpret and present data using bar charts, pictograms and tables
Solve one-step and two-step questions [for example ‘How many more?’ and ‘How many fewer?’] using information presented in scaled bar charts and pictograms and tables

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

A worked example

A pictogram shows which pet 80 children would most like. Use the key to answer: How many more children chose dogs than cats? How many more chose dogs than fish and rabbits together?

Read the key first. Each symbol stands for 10 children and a half symbol stands for 5.

Dogs     @ @ @ ½
Cats     @ @
Fish     @ ½
Rabbits  @
Key: @ = 10 children, ½ = 5 children

Turn each row into a number. Dogs: 3 whole symbols and a half = 30 + 5 = 35. Cats: 2 symbols = 20. Fish: 10 + 5 = 15. Rabbits: 10.
One-step question: how many more chose dogs than cats? Find the difference: 35 − 20 = 15.
Two-step question: first find how many chose fish and rabbits together, 15 + 10 = 25. Then find the difference between that and dogs: 35 − 25 = 10.
Check with the total. 35 + 20 + 15 + 10 = 80, which matches the number of children in the survey.

15 more children chose dogs than cats, and 10 more chose dogs than fish and rabbits together.

Common mistakes and how to help

Reading a symbol or gridline as 1 when it stands for more

In earlier years each picture often stood for one thing, so a row of 4 symbols is read as 4 even when the key says each is 5.

What helps: Make “check the key” a habit. Say the scale out loud while counting: “5, 10, 15, 20”. On a bar chart, count up the side in the same steps to find the top of the bar.

Giving a half symbol the value 1 or ½

The half picture looks like it should be half of something small, so children write ½ or 1 instead of half of the key.

What helps: Ask, “If a whole symbol is 10, how much is half of one?” Work it out with real objects, such as half of 10 counters.

Adding when the question asks “how many more”

The word “more” sounds like adding, so a child adds 35 and 20 instead of finding the gap between them.

What helps: Draw the two bars side by side and ask how much longer one is than the other. That gap is the difference, which we find by subtracting or by counting on from the smaller number.

Drawing charts with unequal bars, no zero on the scale or no labels

Children focus on getting the bars drawn and forget what makes a chart fair to read. Bars of different widths or symbols of different sizes make one category look larger than it is.

What helps: Use squared paper to keep bars equal. Before they colour in, ask, “Could someone who hasn’t seen the data read this chart? What is missing?”

How to help at home

Take a family survey. Ask family and friends to choose a favourite from four options, such as fruit, colour or game. Your child tallies the votes, makes a table and draws a bar chart on squared paper.
Chart the week’s weather. Record sunny, cloudy, rainy and windy days in a table for a week or longer. Then ask, “How many more sunny days than rainy days? How many fewer cloudy days than sunny ones?”
Count and compare household objects. Sort a drawer of cutlery, a pile of socks or a bag of building bricks by type or colour. Draw a pictogram where one symbol stands for 2, so that odd numbers need a half symbol.
Look at charts in books and magazines. When you see a graph, ask, “What does one square stand for? What is the biggest? How many more is that than the smallest?” Reading scales aloud is the key skill.

Builds on

Year 2: Pictograms, tally charts and tables

Leads on to

Year 4: Bar charts and time graphs

Everything in Year 3 maths

Updated 20 October 2026.