Since we started participating in a 50 states postcard swap (graciously hosted by Aimee at Adventures & Pursuits), the girls have been fully absorbed in exploring U.S. maps, looking at photos and videos on state tourism websites, and trying to learn each state’s special state symbols. The whole family is having a blast learning state trivia and I am amazed at how much information the girls are retaining. I love following their lead and providing the resources that help them explore this current interest!
Speaking of resources, the biggest hit around here has been The Scrambled States of America card game
The game
The game is intended to be played as a race, but we play following the suggested young player modification – instead of racing to be the first to match a state to the challenge, everyone with a match can put a state in their home piles. When we first started playing, we played in grown-up/kid teams (mainly to help my five-year-old with reading the cards), but now the girls pretty much have the cards memorized!
After the girls fell in love with this card game
- For more Scrambled States fun, you can check out Laurie Keller’s website. She has great printables and project ideas to pair with The Scrambled States of America books.
- Almost Unschoolers also shared an amazing cookie project as a follow-up to The Scrambled States of America – they made a cookie in the shape of each state and created their own cookie map. So cool!
I’ll be sharing some more of our United States geography resources soon!
Happy playing!
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I will have to look out for the game! LittleA would love that. We have the Scrambled States book and had fun creating a fun game at our house too. You can see more here:
http://phoneticallyspeaking.blogspot.com/2009/09/home-for-preschool.html
Love that link to the cookie states of America – tasty!!
Love your game idea – I can see my five-year-old doing that over and over again. She’s my puzzle girl!
We bought the game and the book for our oldest, but we haven’t run into a gift-giving holiday since we purchased it! Glad to hear that your girls love it because I’m guessing that means mine will too!
I don’t think you will be disappointed! Thanks for stopping by!
laurie keller came to visit my daughter’s school and she was awesome! i really need to get this game!
Just wanted to say that I’m missing your store
Hope everything is going well.
I love both the book and the game! My second grade class and I created our own whole-class method of playing the game, and we used to have so much fun doing that as an end-of-the-week activity on Friday afternoons. (Now I’m home with my boys, but I’m sure we’ll enjoy that game at home in a few years…)
You should check out the cardboard cut out states of the US on http://www.orientaltradingcompany.com. My 5 year old and I have been doing one every couple of days and we put them up on her wall after we’ve written the state name, found the capital and written it out.. maybe draw one or two picks to represent something special about the state then we just sticky tack it into place on her wall in her room. She loves it and every time we put a new state up we do a quick review. She is really learning them! It’s awesome.
{ 1 trackback }