Race to the Capital Geography Game

Play this game with your class, another class, or your whole grade! Race to match states, provinces, or countries to their capitals.

• 1.

  Which U.S. state’s capital is Pierre? What is the capital of Quebec? Tashkent is the capital of what country? Learning capitals of states, provinces, and countries can be a challenge. Invent games like this one to make memorizing fun!

• 2.

  After everyone’s had a chance to learn the information, gather a large group of students together (at least 20, but not more than 100) to make and play this matching game. Adapt these ideas depending on how many capitals you’re learning. These directions are designed for the 50 U.S. capitals.

• 3.

  Use Crayola Markers to write the name of a capital city or a state on cards (you need 100 cards). If you have 100 people playing, place all of the state and capital cards in two recycled boxes. Label the boxes "states" or "capitals." If you have fewer than 100 players, choose exactly the number of cards you need so there is one card for each student and every state has a matching capital in the game.

• 4.

  Divide players into two equal teams. Each player uses a Crayola Dry-Erase Marker and an individual dry-erase board. One team chooses state cards to write on their dry-erase boards. The other team writes capitals. When the leader signals "go," work together to match up the state and capital partners, looking from board to board to find matches.

• 5.

  When you think all matches are made, line up in a large circle to evaluate whether the group has correctly identified all states and capitals. Signal when you think you’ve done it correctly by sitting down on the floor all at once.

Benefits

• Students identify states, provinces, and/or countries and their capitals while engaging in an active group activity.
• Students work cooperatively to self-correct and assist classmates.

Adaptations

• Choose one student at each round to be the evaluator. Set a time limit for the rest of the students to match up. The evaluator assesses whether the teams have matched correctly and makes changes where needed.
• Smaller teams can match states and capitals from regions, continents, or founding dates. Larger teams might play on the playground or in a gymnasium. Challenge students to race the clock, trying to get faster and faster at matching states and capitals eac
• Play other versions of the same game. Match countries to their continents, major world cities to their countries, or languages to the countries where they are spoken.
• Assessment: Observe students as they work together to identify matches. Who stands out as having a good command of the information? Note who may need extra practice and who takes leadership roles.