Ignacio has always been fascinated by maps and
atlases. He took an early interest in
learning the 50 states. He knows them
all. He recognizes them by shape or name
and knows where they are located on a map.
I’ve had multiple inquiries on how best to help kids learn their
states. I hope you find the following
advice helpful.
When it comes to
US
geography, Ignacio’s absolute favorite series is “
The Scrambled States of America”
by Laurie Keller. He has both the
original book as well as the sequel, “
The Scrambled States of America TalentShow”. He also has the
puzzle, as seen
in the above picture, and the
DVD. This
series is great in aiding with their recognition of the states because the
states become characters. I can ask him
about any state in the series and he’ll know if they are a boy or a girl, what
their personality is like, who their neighbors are, and what they did in the
stories.
We have quite a few globes and maps available to him. He is always free to explore them. He even chose a
US map wall decal to decorate the
wall next to his bed. I don’t think they
sell the exact one I bought him but
this one is cute, too.
We have a variety of map puzzles. The best ones are the ones where the pieces
are cut into the actual shapes of the states.
As for apps and games there are a few that we use. We really enjoy
Stack The States. This app was originally only available for
iPods and iPads. While it is still not
available for android or the nook, you can purchase it for Windows. Ignacio plays on our desktop. We also use the
Quizard Flashcards app for
the nook. There are so many subjects you
can use, among them are a few sets for the states. While you can choose to go through them as
traditional flashcards, we tend to use the Quiz option. It will flash a state map and give you four
state names to choose from. If you get
it wrong you can try again. At the end
it will tell you how long it took to complete and how many times he answered
incorrectly. There is even an option to
play as a word search puzzle. He also
loves playing map puzzle games online.
Owl & Mouse is a great free site and offers a large variety of map puzzle games. This link is for their
US states puzzle, you can choose to play with or without outlines and can also choose to match capitols. The puzzles are timed, his
record for the states puzzle is right around three minutes.
While he knows all of his states, he is still in the process
of learning the capitols. I’d say he
knows about half of them right now. I
tend to follow his lead when it comes to learning geography, I know we are
ahead of the game. I also let him choose
books about individual states when we go to the library. Sometimes he likes to check out travel DVDs
about the states, too. He likes to see
what they are like.
We have a variety of books, but here are the ones we are
especially fond of:
I didn't bother listing The Scrambled States of America, because I linked them at the top of this post. I really can't stress how great they are. I should mention that we also found some workbooks in the dollar bin at Target that he really enjoyed.
I'll update this post if I come across other good sources or new favorites. You might want to bookmark it. I hope to follow up with another post focusing on world geography. I thought it would be easier to split the two.
I'll be back soon, take care.
