Pictograph Worksheet Generator

A pictograph shows a small table as rows of symbols, with a key saying how many each symbol stands for. The skill is reading the key: when one circle means 10 cakes, four and a half circles mean 45. This makes sheets at three levels — symbols worth 1 or 2, symbols worth 2, 5 or 10, and half symbols — and either asks questions about a drawn chart or gives a table to draw. Every answer is worked out again from the symbols on the page, so a chart that disagrees with its own key cannot reach the answer sheet.

Level

Task

How many pictographs

1 to 4.

Sheet code (optional)

Leave empty for a fresh sheet. The same code and settings make the same sheet again while the generator is unchanged. The code is a seed: deterministic, not cryptographic, and not a secret.

Paper size

Print size

Margin

Millimetres of blank edge, 5 to 40.

Turn the paper sideways

How to print this, or save it as a PDF

There is no PDF to download, and there does not need to be. Open the print command in your browser and choose “Save as PDF” as the destination. Your browser decides whether the page address and date print across the top and bottom; if they appear, turn off “Headers and footers” in the print dialog.
Set the scale to 100%, not “fit to page”. This sheet is already the exact size of the paper you chose, so anything that resizes it makes every measurement on it wrong.
Leave the paper size in the dialog set to the same one you chose here.

The sheet will appear here.

What this generator does

Picks a theme and a key, draws values that are whole or half multiples of the key, and draws each row as that many circles, with a half circle for half the key. Each chart asks how many for one row, how many more for one row than another, the total, and which row has the most or the fewest — the largest and smallest rows are kept unique and the two rows compared are never equal, so every question has one answer.

How to use this tool

Choose a level, whether pupils read a chart or draw one, and how many charts.
Press Make the sheet.
Press Show the answers to see each answer, or the finished chart for a drawing task.
Print the questions and the answers, or type a sheet code to make the same sheet again.

Understanding the controls

Level: Gentle: each symbol is 1 or 2. Standard: 2, 5 or 10. Stretch: 2, 4 or 10, with half symbols.
Task: Read a drawn pictograph and answer four questions, or draw one from a table using the key given.
How many pictographs: 1 to 4; two print on each page, and the answers follow on their own pages.
Sheet code: Leave empty for a fresh sheet from the browser's secure generator; with a code, the same code and settings make the same sheet again while the generator is unchanged.

Worked examples

Code harbour, standard, reading: How we came to school, one circle = 2 children: Walking 14, Car 8, Bus 16, Bike 18. How many more children chose “Bike” than “Car”? 10. Altogether? 56. Fewest? Car.
Code harbour, stretch, reading: Cakes sold at the fair, one circle = 10: Monday is four and a half circles, 45 cakes; altogether 315.

Common use cases

A first lesson on reading picture graphs with a key
Practice with symbols worth more than one
Drawing a pictograph from a tally or table

How this generator works

A value v with key k is drawn as v ÷ k whole circles, rounded down, and a half circle when there is half a key left over; half symbols are used only with an even key. The answers are then recomputed from the chart as drawn — whole circles times the key, plus half the key for a half circle — and compared with the answer key, so a row drawn with one circle too many is reported rather than printed.

Randomness and fairness

The theme, key and values come from the browser's secure generator, or a seeded one when you type a code. A code repeats a sheet while the generator is unchanged. Codes are deterministic, not cryptographic, and not a secret.

For how randomness is produced across the whole site, see how Generate Random works.

Assumptions this tool makes

Every symbol stands for the same amount, and a half symbol for exactly half of it; quarter symbols are not used.

Limitations and good to know

Symbols are plain circles so they print clearly; picture symbols for each theme are not offered.
Values stay small — at most nine symbols a row — so a chart fits across a printed page.
Charts are horizontal; vertical pictographs are not drawn.

Common mistakes

Counting symbols instead of using the key: Multiply the number of symbols by the key; four symbols at 10 each is 40, not 4.
Reading a half symbol as a whole one: A half circle is half the key: with a key of 10 it adds 5.

Privacy and your data

Charts are drawn in your browser. With analytics consent, a count records how many pictographs a sheet had; the data and any code are not sent.