Drawing Data with Kids - A Heartfelt Book about Data for Children

Drawing Data with Kids is a story and activity book for children that weaves data stories into everyday life. The book is written by data expert Gulrez Khan and builds on his own experience as a father. His daughter is the main character in the book and we get to see the fun of visualizing data through her eyes. 

Disclosure: Gulrez got in touch and asked for a review of the book. Views are our own. Purchases made through links may result in a small payment that helps us to keep creating content. 

Each chapter of the book tells a story or anecdote that leads to a data visualization. The examples are taken from the everyday life of Pariza and her brother and including her father's snoring! and playing board games. There are also activities for readers to complete in the book. 

Here's one of the examples from the book where the family visualize results from playing a game:

Depending on the school curriculum they are studying, parents may find that the concepts Pariza encounters are already familiar to their children. The book will provide a shared way to talk about these ideas and relate them to your own everyday life. 

It's hugely important that all children see children from a variety backgrounds represented as belonging in technical fields. This book does a great job of sharing various aspects of Pariza's life which will be familiar to some readers and new to others - there's value in both cases.

I asked my good friend Farah Aly to take a look at the book and give her perspective. Farah is a computer science educator with recent experience working with data. Here are Farah's thoughts:

'Drawing Data with Kids' by Gulrez Khan is not just a personal and delightful read, it takes young readers on an adventure beautifully crafted for curious readers.

The storytelling intertwined with real-world examples allows the reader to go on this heartwarming journey with Pariza and her family. Each chapter is captivating. Starting with a story following Pariza learning about a way to draw data, followed by a 'Time out' section giving a brief and crystal clear explanation of the concept, and finally a 'Your turn to play' section, offering a story based hands-on exercise for the reader to practise what they’ve seen, the structure makes learning about data both engaging and interactive.

Khan's evident passion for teaching transforms the seemingly complex into something tangible and fun.  Whether you're a parent or an educator, 'Drawing Data with Kids' is a must-read. Khan's touch is sure to ignite a love for learning in every young reader.

Drawing Data with Kids is a great way to continue or spark an interest in data and data visualization. Why is this important? Well the world runs on data. Businesses make decisions based on data, the future of the planet depends on how we analyse and interpret data. Data visualization is hugely important for helping people to understand data and influencing the decisions that get made using data. Data skills are currently in great demand in industry so an interest in data can lead to some great career opportunities. 

The book has the tagline:

"The idea is not to teach them but to make them fall in love with data."

This exemplifies Khan's enthusiasm for sharing the topic which really comes through in the book. 

There should be more books like Drawing Data with Kids that include computational topics as a part of everyday life and make it normal to be utterly passionate and curious about those topics. Stories help kids to make sense of the world. And the world is full of data and technology.