50 States Unit Study: Games to Play

Welcome to the fourth day of 10 days of Hopscotching Across the USA!  Today I’ll be sharing games to play to learn about the 50 states.

What child doesn’t love to play games? Games can be a great way to sneak in a lot of practice with the states and capitals, along with soaking in other information about the 50 states. We found a few wonderful games that packed a lot of learning into a lot of fun.

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Stack the States App

My kids loved Stack the States!  Some of the questions are about facts we weren’t trying to memorize, but the game does continually reinforce the name and shape of the state along with the capital city.  Steve wrote a detailed review of Stack the States on The Curriculum Choice.

Snapshots Across America Board Game

Snapshots Across America is our favorite board game about the US that not only reinforces the names and locations of the states but also famous sights, landmarks, and events. You can read my full review of Snapshots Across America on Curriculum Choice.

Scrambled States of America Board Game

The Scrambled States of America board game is based on the book I mentioned yesterday.  At the start of the game the states are all mixed up from the party. Each player starts with five state cards that include the name, capital city, and nickname along with a cartoon drawing of the state.

The object is to send states “home” by matching them to the Scramble cards. Options on the Scramble cards include things like letters the state name or capital city starts with, touching a certain ocean or being closest to another state.  Early readers need quite a bit of help with this game, but it is fun and involves frequent references of the state cards and map.

The only part I didn’t like about this game is that some Scramble cards ask for the state that is a certain color, wearing something, or showing teeth—there is no educational value since these are based on cartoon drawings.

Come back tomorrow for ways to record your journey of learning about the USA. Subscribe via email or RSS so you don’t miss a post!

Here are the topics from this series:

Day 1: Introduction to the 50 States Unit Study
Day 2: Learning About the States
Day 3: Getting to Know Your Geography
Day 4: Games to Play
Day 5: Recording Your Journey
Day 6: Famous Places in the USA
Day 7: Natural Attractions
Day 8: Nature Study
Day 9: The People of America
Day 10: Food from the 50 States

I’m teaming up with over 25 other iHomeschool Network bloggers. Hop over to iHN for ideas from veteran homeschooling moms on topics ranging from Teaching with Legos to Project Based Learning.