When you and your friends are playing a game and everyone is trying to hit a target, deviation is like when one of you throws the ball and it lands far from where everyone else’s balls are landing. It’s like a little surprise where one ball doesn’t end up where most of the others do.
Think about when you’re coloring and you’re trying to stay inside the lines of a picture. If your crayon goes outside the lines, that’s a deviation. It’s when something doesn’t follow the path or the rules you’re trying to stick to.
Picture a line of toy cars moving in a straight line. If one car suddenly turns and goes off the path, that’s a deviation. It’s when something doesn’t follow the same way as the others.
Imagine you’re baking cookies and you want them all to be the same size. If one cookie turns out much bigger or smaller than the others, that’s a deviation. It’s when something is different from what you expected.