U.S. States and Capitals, WonderMaps, and Permanent Markers.

{This post contains affiliate links.}

Otherwise entitled: Learning and Practicing States and Capitals With WonderMaps and FUN.

Or also: How to Be a Fun Teacher Instead of a Fuddy Duddy.

I have smart friends.

And you know what smart moms do?

They listen to their smart friends.

So I have to give credit where credit is due.. it was not my brilliant idea to LET my kids have the permanent markers for their maps. (Ordinarily I would have screamed: No, No, No! Everyone knows you use color pencils and pencils for maps. Silly rabbit.) But when I saw Mary letting her kids use sharpies with their maps, I had one of those palm-smack-forehead moments. Of COURSE it works. It’s BRILLIANT. Why? Because kids love permanent markers. They’re fun.

With our handy dandy WonderMaps software it was no problem to run and print three blank maps, literally in seconds. With a large collection of permanent markers already on hand — POOF. Instant Geography lesson.

Intentional Geography Time with WonderMaps and Permanent Markers

Supplies:

• Variety Pack of Permanent Markers
• WonderMaps (specifically, the United States Map with borders and capital city markers)
• One or more atlases. (This is the one we have.)
• 3 Kids Who Love Markers
• One Fun Mom

Note: Adjust the assignment for age and skill. Younger kids can simply outline the United States, kids who are ready can use the atlas to fill in all state and capital names and practice their best penmanship while doing so, older children can review what they know by filling in states and capitals by memory first and then using the atlas for assistance if needed.

Not bad for a first go! We will do this again next week with slightly higher expectations. We will do this again and again, practicing neat and tidy map skills and memorization of capitals. Most importantly, the kids thought it was incredibly fun. They wanted to know if they could use markers in school for anything else. 😉

More About WonderMaps: WonderMaps for Relaxed Geography
More About Geography: How to Naturally Work Geography Into LearningAlso Worth A Mention: Everything You Need for Eclectic Homeschool History