Bin of Averages Coloring Page

About this page

No giant apples, no tiny apples, page 70 is a basket full of perfectly medium ones. That is the friendliest introduction to averages a young child could ask for. The average is the middle-sized answer, the one that stands in for the whole group when the group is too big to describe apple by apple. Kids meet this idea constantly without a name for it, in medium shirts, middle-sized cups, and just-right porridge. It is another everyday reminder that data is everywhere once you know how to look, even sitting quietly in the fruit bowl on the kitchen counter.

The research skill

Finding the typical value of a group is what this basket is about, and the artist added a clever contrast. One big apple and one tiny apple sit outside, while the smiling apples inside the Mean/Average basket are all a similar middle size. One way researchers think about a mean is evening things out, as if the big ones shared with the small ones until all were equal. That even-share size is the average. Chapter 5 uses averages to sum up many measurements at once, and your child will calculate them in upper elementary math.

Try it at home

Try the "even it out" average with blocks or crackers.

1. Make three stacks of different heights, such as 2, 4, and 6 blocks.
2. Ask your child to move pieces from the tall stacks to the short one until all three match.
3. Count one finished stack: that number is the average (here, 4).
4. Build three new stacks and try again, checking the answer by counting every block and sharing them out equally.

Talk about it while you color

• If you lined up your whole family from shortest to tallest, who would be in the middle?
• Which do you like better, the biggest apple or the middle-sized one, and why?
• What things at home come in small, medium, and large?