Pictures are made of tiny dots — Computing, 4–6 years
A screen picture is built from many tiny coloured squares called pixels. Looking closely helps children connect a bright picture with the small pieces a computer controls.
Tiny coloured squares
A screen picture is not one solid thing. It is made from many tiny squares called pixels, each showing a colour. From a normal distance the squares blend together, so our eyes see a face, a tree or a red ball.
Why use pixels?
A computer needs small, countable pieces so it can decide exactly which parts are light, dark or coloured. Screens use rows and columns of pixels because this gives them a practical way to build many different pictures. More pixels can show finer detail, if the screen and picture support it.
Make a tiny picture
Imagine a screen with 3 rows and 3 columns: that makes 9 pixels. Colour the middle 3 pixels blue and the other 6 white. From far away it may look like a short blue stripe. The computer creates the picture by choosing a colour for each square.
The picture is not broken
When a picture is enlarged, children may think it has become blurry or broken because they can see squares. That is a reasonable thought: the smooth picture really does look different. The squares were always there; enlarging simply makes each pixel easier to notice.
Screens and cameras
Phones, televisions and tablets use pixels to show pictures, words and video. A digital camera records light in many small picture points, then stores them as an image. Pixel knowledge helps explain why two screens or photos can show different amounts of detail.
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