Smiley Face Mystery Coordinate Grid Printable Math Fun
Graphs are an important part of math and a great way to visually show information.
However, it’s not always easy to learn how to use a graph or a grid.
And it’s not always fun to practice that knowledge.
This is why I’ve created these coordinate grid mystery pictures which are a super fun way to practice plotting grid points.
We love Math and Art and combining them is just magical.
So we are loving the book Math Art and Drawing Games for Kids by Karyn Tripp.
It is chock full of super fun math activities that combine art and math in just beautiful ways.
Why Smiley Face Mystery Grids
Grids aren’t necessarily hard to learn. I often have to remind mystery whether x is horizontal or vertical. But aside from that, it’s pretty easy to understand how to read a grid.
Things can get a bit trickier when you include positive and negative numbers.
Overall, like many math concepts, learning to use a grid is all about practice, practice, practice.
And that’s when it gets tricky.
There’s only so many times anyone wants to graph (2, 7).
So the obvious answer is to make it more interesting! And why not do that through mystery pictures?
They’re still graphing and plotting on a grid. But in the end, they’ve created a picture.
How to Use the Mystery Coordinate Grids
There are two pages for each puzzle – one is a grid and the other the coordinates to plot.
The coordinates tell you which color to use when connecting the points. Draw a line between each point – until the instructions say to ‘START NEW’. Then you’re starting a different portion of the puzzle.
Just start by plotting the first point. When you find the second point, draw a line between the first and second.
Then you’ll move onto the 3rd point, 4th, 5th, etc drawing lines between each.
When you’ve finished all of the coordinates, look at your design!
Benefits of Understanding Coordinate Grids
My favorite thing about using coordinate grids is that they can bring data to life.
You can show someone a table with a bunch of numbers and it’s not always going to be obvious and meaningful. But plot those same points on a graph and you can easily see the relationship between the two items you’re comparing.
For instance, I began plotting my weight loss a few years ago. In a table, you can easily see I’d lost weight.
With a coordinate grid, it was much more obvious.
Grids are used very often in real life. Blueprints, maps, art, etc. They’re also in many ways by engineers, coders, architects, artists, etc.
