The fourth grade social studies curriculum at my son's
school covers the regions of the United States. He recently learned all about
the southeastern states and the class is now moving on to the southwest.
My
son's memory is pretty good and his ability to ID the states is equally as
strong. Since he's been begging me for a new deceptively educational after
school game, I thought I'd test his knowledge with a fun trivia-based treasure
hunt of the southeastern states.
You should have seen him when he realized it was finally time to play the game I'd been
working on for so many nights (thank you, Internet, for all the great info!). He
was pumped!
What You Need to
Play
Heavyweight cardstock (7 sheets)
Scissors or paper cutter
Tape
Glue (optional)
Prep
Download the PDF from Google Drive here. Print on
heavyweight cardstock.
Cut the cards apart and fold in half so one side is the
state and the other trivia. Tape or glue shut. The START card is the only card
that can be cut in half (i.e. it doesn't require folding). Take all the other
folded cards and tape them in various places around the room(s).
Play
Hand your child the START card with trivia on it. Based
on the facts, can they determine which state is being described? Once they've
figured it out, they must race around the room to find the card with that state
pictured. They'll then flip the card over and read the next set of state facts,
then try to locate the card with that state's shape. Play continues like this
until kids have found the final card. Their tour of the southeastern United
States is complete!
Note: The cards are labeled on the back corner with a
number from 1-12. This will help kids know if they've found the right state
(i.e. if a child reads facts on card number 8 and flips over a state with a 5
on the back, they've incorrectly identified the state that the facts were
about. The numbers will go in chronological order if the child identifies the
states correctly).
The order of the hunt is as follows:
Alabama
Georgia
Mississippi
Louisiana
Florida
Arkansas
North Carolina
Virginia
South Carolina
West Virginia
Tennessee
Maryland
Variation No. 1
If your child
doesn't recognize the state shapes yet, label the cards with the state names.
Variation No. 2
Want to simplify things? Cut the cards apart and write
the capitals on the back of the cards so the hunt is just about ID'ing the
state capitals correctly.
FYI: I was rushing to get this activity put together. If
you see any inaccuracies, typos, etc. please let me know! It isn't likely my
9-year-old would point them out to me, so I'd appreciate if you did!
