53 Fun and Interesting Statistics Activities

I created a categorical vs quantitative variables card sort that I would like to share with you.

I created these categorical vs quantitative variables hold-up cards to help me understand how well my statistics students were grasping the concepts of categorical and quantitative variables.

Looking for a fun way to assess student understanding on categorical and quantitative variables? Check out this card sort activity I created for my statistics classes involving data that could be collected in an emergency room.

One of my favorite graphs to use to practice SOCS in statistics is this Kentucky Derby Winning Times graph that I found in Stats: Modeling the World. To practice describing SOCS, I had my class look at this dotplot of the Kentucky Derby Winning Times between 1875 and 2008.

I’m pretty happy with how this SOCS foldable turned out that I created for my stats class. We’re practicing identifying the shape, outliers, center, and spread of a quantitative variable.

My stats students had just finished up learning to find IQR by hand and by calculator and standard deviation by hand and by calculator. I made this card sort activity to help students learn when they should report IQR vs standard deviation.

Check out this interactive notebook over the 5 elements of a 5 number summary.

How hard can it be to stand on one foot with your eyes closed? Your students will find out with this fun blind stork test that is perfect for collecting data to analyze in Algebra 1.

Data collection is fun when it involves playing Tenzi! Students will play various Tenzi variants and use their collected data to create boxplots which can be easily compared to determine “Which version of Tenzi is the hardest?”

Your Algebra 1 students will love creating their own custom magnet which can be used to create class dot plots.

Don’t settle for random data sets from your textbook to analyze. In this dot plot of the day activity, students will practice describing data sets involving data collected directly from their classmates.

Once you have created your dot plot magnets, ask your students “How Many States Have You Visited?” This is a great first dot plot to make and analyze as a class.

The numbers and labels are missing from these dotplots. Can you use your logical reasoning skills to match each dotplot with it represents?

How many items will your students count in the allotted time? Have your students create a graphical display of the results. How does the true value compare to the class results?

This data set analyzing the ages of male and female academy award winners is the perfect introduction to back-to-back stem-and-leaf plots.

Students were given a plastic sleeve with a hidden picture puzzle and a card with a picture to locate within the puzzle, a MyChron timer, and a data recording sheet to glue into their interactive notebooks.  

I want to share a statistics foldable I made for the Game of Greed. This dice game is such a fun way to collect data!

My stats students were struggling with boxplots. So, I decided to take a break from making boxplots to letting them look at boxplots that were already made. A quick google search led me to this boxplot and histogram card sort activity.

Students will practice finding a five number summary and determining if there are any outliers by looking at salary data for the OKC Thunder.

I created this 5 W’s and H Foldable for my Stats class to glue in their statistics interactive notebooks (INBs).

Students use this helpful dry erase workmat to help them organize their work while finding the five number summary of a data set and using that to find IQR and outliers.

I made this Graphs in the News Statistics Foldable to give my stat students practice analyzing graphs of categorical data. I pulled some real-life data displays from the internet. Then, I had students discuss these questions together as a group. I loved hearing my students reason through these!

How well can your students estimate 30 seconds? This is the perfect quick data collection activity to get a fun set of data to analyze.

I created this types of data displays foldable for my Algebra 1 students to review bar graphs, stem-and-leaf graphs, box-and-whisker plots, and circle graphs.

I created this let’s make a graph activity to give my Algebra 1 students practice making various types of data displays. We needed to practice making bar graphs, box-and-whisker-plots, circle graphs, and stem-and-leaf graphs.

Recently, my statistics class was working on a paper airplane lab to explore the effect of the wingspan of a paper airplane on the distance traveled by the plane.

Recently, my statistics students have been doing an activity with gummy bear catapults.

This year, I decided I wanted to start my statistics class off with a statistical simulation to give them a taste of what was in store for the year. I ran across mention of a hiring discrimination simulation on another blog, and I thought it would make the perfect first activity.

I want to share a set of TULSA Graphing Posters here on the blog today. Does your graph have a Title, Units, Labels, Scales, and Accuracy?

This normal distribution question stack activity was my introduction to a new practice structure for math class: question stacks. Since then, I have gone on to create question stacks for a large number of math topics.

Students take turns building scatter plots using m&m’s and having their classmates determine if the scatterplot has positive, negative, or no correlation.

This Candy Grab Lab is one of my favorite ways to introduce students to the process of linear regression.

I learned about using twizzlers for linear regression from Tammy Ballard with Wake County Public Schools. I modified her activity to create my own twizzlers linear regression lab that met the needs of my specific group of algebra students.

This Desmos activity kept students engaged and interested while learning how to draw lines of best fit by hand.

This hula hoop scatterplot activity gets students moving in math class while learning about how to create a scatterplot and use that scatterplot and linear regression to make predictions.

This starburst scatterplot activity ended up being one of my favorite activities of the year!

I created this tongue twister linear regression activity for my algebra students to use while collecting tongue twister data in their small groups. Students work in groups to collect data regarding the amount of time it takes various numbers of people to recite a tongue twister.

Warning: don’t try this bouncing tennis balls linear regression activity if your classroom is on the 2nd floor. The science teacher below your classroom will not appreciate it.

I was inspired to give my students the true colors personality test after attending a workshop where we did this personality test as one of our activities. We took turns going around the room saying what color we found as our result.

When comparing the amount of time it took for different numbers of students, we were able to perform a linear regression to figure out how long it would take the entire class to speak their results.

Instead of giving my statistics students a semester test, I chose to assign them a response bias project based on one shared online by Josh Tabor.

I’m excited today to share the results of our confidence interval projects in statistics.

Before Spring Break, I gave my statistics students the assignment to design their own survey projects. We spent well over a week on this project, but I definitely think it was time well spent.

All you need for this fun and engaging hex nut probability activity are hex nuts, empty soda bottles, and a plastic ring.

Can your students use their knowledge of probability to determine the contents of the mystery box?

This Blocko Probability game is perfect for introducing the difference between experimental and theoretical probability to students.

I play the game with linking cubes with my students, but you could actually use any collection of small items.

Probability Bingo is not your typical bingo game!

Students fill their bingo boards based on the color combinations they think will appear the most. The winner is the person who fills out their entire bingo board first.

I have been playing this greedy pig dice game with my students to practice probability since I learned it while student teaching!

All you need for this game is a set of dice!

I created this Venn Diagram template to use with Guess My Rule cards, but it could be used in so many different ways in the math classroom.