This is by far the most asked about activity I do with my kids.  Kenny could locate all 50 states on a U.S. map when he was two years old!   He’s three now, and knows most of the state capitals, and many, many countries on a world map.  At the bottom of the post I included a video of Kenny (about a month before his 2nd birthday) when we were just starting the map with him. As you can see in that video, learning is like play to toddlers.  Take advantage of that, and teach them all you can!

You can get a similar placemat {here.}

You would not believe how easy it is to teach geography to very little children!  You can do it during lunch or breakfast time.   Check out my post {here} about Lunchtime Learning.

Here are my tips for teaching kids all 50 states….

1.

Start with the 3-5 most recognizable states like Florida, California, Texas, Maine. After they have mastered the first five, just build on 2-3 new states a day.

2.

Give them information they can relate to about the states as you point them out.

“This is Idaho. In Idaho they grow lots of potatoes. Do you like potatoes?”

“Do you know who lives in Iowa? Grandma lives in Iowa.  Can you find Iowa on the map?”

“This is Maine. Maine has beautiful trees.”

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3.

Avoid saying, “No, that’s wrong,” when they point out the incorrect state.  Instead, if they point to Arkansas when you asked for Virginia, say something like, “That’s Arkansas. Can you find Virginia?”  This gives them a chance to notice the shape of Arkansas, and they get another stab at finding Virginia too. It also keeps things positive!

4.

Motivation— You can use mini marshmallows, goldfish crackers, cereal, chocolate chips, cheerios, pennies, legos, Teddy Grahams, fruit snacks, M&Ms, etc… to mark the states as they say them. Try to wait until the end for them to eat the markers. 🙂 Over the course of a couple weeks they will be able to see their progress easily, because they will be putting more and more on the map each time.

5.

Another game you can play with the map is to take matchbox cars, and drive them across the map to various states.   My kids love this.  Keep it fun! “Time to go visit Granny & Poppy! Drive your cars to Florida.”   Of course their cars always have to race. 🙂

6.

Lastly, it is always a good idea to end your map play before they want to end.  If they are asking to keep playing, a simple, “All done for today. We’ll play again tomorrow!” will have them eager to begin again the next day.  They will even remind you if you forget to play maps with them!

As a final note, children can learn just about anything presented to them in a factual way. When toddlers know their colors, shapes, and numbers, we are not surprised. But it’s the same little brain that can learn to locate states on a map, and for them, it’s really not that different.

However, if you do teach your children all 50 states, be prepared for people to think your child is a genius. 😉