States 101

The kids (7 and 4) fight over our interactive globe and like to be quizzed on states, countries, and continents that they know. Inspired by Montessori map studies, we ventured into the realm of pin-pushing a state (from the U.S.) to learn some new states in a fun fashion.

My 7 yr old picked Iowa which I of course knew NOTHING about and so began the hunt. Found some fun stuff. And 7 yr liked most of it - except the part where I mistakenly thought she might like to read a Wikipedia page about Iowa (I liked it) - gotta stick to the "living books" as Charlotte Mason would call them.

The best sites we have found for doing history research are museum websites. Many times they will have interactive games and booklists for children. The following games were a hit for my 7 yr.

INTERACTIVE IOWA SITES
President Hoover Hats - Interactive with Fun Facts
Iowa State Symbols and Facts Quiz
Historical Iowa Farm Picture Quiz

GENERAL STATE INFORMATION
State Symbols Pictures

BACKYARDIGANS DVD with W-IOWA Episode
Amazon

MONTESSORI PIN PUSHING
MONTESSORI Journey - Continenet PIN PUSHING
Montessori Journey - United States Pin Pushing

PRINTABLES
State Nomenclature and Abbreviations - Pictures of Flag, Bird, Flower, etc.
United States Maps

LIBRARY BOOK
Numbers in a row:an Iowa number book / written by Patricia A. Pierce

FUN FACTS
* Laura Ingalls Wilder who wrote "Little House on the Prairie" lived in Iowa with her family for a short time.
* Corn Palaces (yes, miniature palaces made of corn) were built in Iowa to celebrate the corn harvest in the late 1800's.

Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 19:9-10

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