Show the variable how? There's not a console, there's not a way to simply display a string or character. Scratch revolves around programming sprites to do things

Tick the checkbox next to the variable in the block palette. That creates a variable watcher on the stage. You can also right-click the watcher to change it to a large readout, displaying the variable contents within a minimal frame.

Also if you get Scratch Addons (https://scratchaddons.com/) and enable the Debugger addon it adds a console and blocks to log to it.

Why would kids need a full debugger with console? That's far from "simple".

Every variable has a checkbox they makes it show on screen: https://en.scratch-wiki.info/wiki/File:Checkbox_to_show_or_h...

There is also a command block to show or hide it dynamically.

You could also display it with a say or think block.

Just have a sprite 'say' the variable

You cannot. A sprite can "say" a value by showing it near them, bit that's it. There's no place to write anything or create a UI, hence the complaint.