The Best United States 50 States Unit Studies and Resources

Inside: Fun ideas and curriculum for learning about the 50 states and Washington DC.

For the past few years for homeschool we are have been slowly learning about the 50 states and it’s been so fun. I have always loved geography and history and it’s so fun to share that with my kids.

When I first planned our social studies/ history learning about the 50 States I planned on doing it in a year. But we figured out that we really enjoy learning about the states slowly and adding it in with our other studies.

We have been learning about the United States for 4 years now and it’s been so fun. That being said you can definitely do these unit studies at a faster pace if you would like.

Learning about the 50 States

When we first started learning about the United States, we I purchased a curriculum and quickly found that I didn’t love it. So, I decided to create my own and after 4 years of work and testing Exploring the Great United States is finally ready to share!

The curriculum is filled with a lot of activity ideas, video links and food ideas as well as the fun worksheets.

United States Curriculum

The curriculum I created has a lesson for each of the 50 states and one for Washington DC . You can see what our unit studies look like in this post about our Utah Unit Study.

While you could easily use this curriculum with no other supplements and have an awesome year there are a few other items, I’m getting to make our study of the 50 states a little more hands-on and fun for my kids.

Along with all the fun facts about each state I really want my kids to learn the names of each state and start to learn the capitals as well.

How to Learn the 50 States

There are so many different resources you could get to go along with this curriculum and help you learn the 50 states. Here are just a few of the options that I will be using with my kids.

50 States Fast Facts

These are cards we like to have on a little ring in our binder. Once side of the card has the state shape and the other has some fast facts.

The fast facts included on each card are the state name, capital, state number, abbreviation and nickname.

Get the Fast Facts

50 States Puzzles

50 states puzzles are a great way to get more familiar with the state shapes and where they fit into the United States. There are several different state puzzle options we love this magnetic puzzle.

Kids United States Atlas

Another great way to learn a little more about each state is by using an Atlas of the United States.

I really like this The 50 States Atlas the illustrations are cute and it’s filled with fun information.

The National Geographic Kids beginner atlas is also filled with information and has photographs instead of drawings.

Stack the States Game

Stack the states is an awesome game for learning the state capitals, shapes, geographical location, maps and more.

There are two different apps Stack the States 1 and Stack the States 2 (#2 is my kids favorite!).

You can have up to 6 profiles and work on collecting all 50 states, plus unlock free bonus games the more you play and learn.

The game has hundreds of unique questions and can be set up so that the questions are read aloud if needed for younger kids.

The Stack the States Game is an app you can get on your phone or tablet. I have it installed on my kid’s Kindles.

50 States Song

Did you ever learn the 50 Nifty United States Song?

That song has been around for such a LONG time, and we will be using it to help us memorize the names of each of the states. Here is the song on youtube if you don’t remember it.

While the 50 nifty song is great, we found a new one that we love even more.

The Tour the States video on YouTube has such a fun song and is so cool to watch. We start of each of our state studies watching it.

looking at the atlas of the united states

Picture Books

As part of our school day, we spend time reading each day, to go along with our study of the United States we will be reading some picture books about each state we learn about.

We will be getting most of these books from the library. A couple of series that I plan on using for each state are, what’s so Great About this State series of books and Discover America State by State.

I’m sure we will find additional books as we study different states.

Map of the United States

Having a large map of the United States hanging on your wall or that you can lay out is a great way for kids to visually learn where states are located.

We also love using a printed map that the kids can color as we complete each state.

This will also help them learn about distance, areas, and the shape of the United States.

The map we are using is a felt map that I found at the Target Dollar Spot a couple of years ago. On Amazon, you can find several different map options.

State Quarter Collection Book

The State Quarter Collection Book is a total extra but because my kids are really into learning about money I thought it would be fun to start a little coin collection with them.

We will be using the State Quarter Collection book and spending sometime trying to find the 50 states quarters.

50 States Flash Cards

There are a lot of states flashcards out there but none of them were exactly what I wanted so to help us with our study of the states I created some flashcards.

Each card has the outline of the state, the state name, the state capital and a map of the United States showing where that state fits.

I plan on printing out two sets of these flashcards, so I have 2 of each state and using them as both flashcards and a memory match game. We might even use them to play go fish.

You could always print more sets to have 3 or 4 of each state to play go fish. I’m thinking we will play go fish by dividing the states by region not with all of the states so it’s not so overwhelming at least at first.

Get your own set of 50 States Flashcards here.