March 11th, 2010

Fun Games With States And Capitals

There are so many free online flash games on the internet and they are so diversified that you will always have something to play. There are already thousands of them on the internet and there new games made each day so you can never get bored. Some are really funny, others are silly, others are violent and some are educational and useful. So you can combine learning with playing, and make the studying process more fun.

These games are usually for children, but not only. From them the kids can learn all sorts of things such as: all the math operations, chemistry, the periodic table of elements, history, geography and so on. Today we’ll discuss about some games from this category and we’ll choose some fun games with states and capitals. So you can play these games if you are at school and you need to learn all the states of United States of America and their capitals, or if you simply want to enlarge your general knowledge. They are quite useful and fun to play.

Let’s begin with a game found here on this site: http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/web_games.htm . There are three versions that you can play: the first one to learn the US states and their capitals, the second to learn just the states and their positioning on the map, and the third one to learn the geographic regions of the United States of America. And each of the game has 4 different versions. The first one is the tutorial, where you will be learned all the things that you need to know.

So in this version you just have to click on the map, and there you will see the name of that state/capital or geographic region. You will also hear a voice telling you how to pronounce that specific name and you will also see all the useful information that you need to know about that place. Since today we are discussing about “states and capitals”, let’s play the tutorial for this category.

Here you can learn them in 2 ways: you can click on the map on one of the states, and find out its capital or you can click on the list of capitals from the left side of the screen and find out which capital to which state belongs. And of course in the left side of the screen, under the list you will find a lot of information about each capital. After you have practiced enough and you think you know most of the states and capitals, then you can begin the real game. And of course it’s recommended to begin with the “beginner” level.

Since it is the easiest of the levels, you will have just 5 possible answers for each question. You will first hear the name of a capital, and you will have just 5 states colored in white. And from these states you will have to choose the correct answer. The rest of the states will be colored in grey (or in other colors if you already discovered them) so you won’t be able to click on them.

When clicking on a wrong state it will turn red, and after clicking on the correct one, it will have a different color. Once you get one or 2 answers correctly it will be easier for you because you will narrow the possibilities, until you have just one left. After completing a group of 5 there will be another one, and so on until you discover the whole map of the United States of America.

On the intermediate level you will have all of the states available, and you will have to guess the correct capital from all of them on the map. So it will be a little more difficult. In the expert level you will be given the name of a state, and you must choose the capital yourself from the list from the left side of the screen.

And finally, on the “cartographer” level, which is the toughest one, you won’t have any list at all. You will be given the name of the state, and you will have to type yourself the name of its capital. Well you don’t have to type the entire name, and just the first three letters will be enough. But still it will be really difficult, unless you know the states and capitals really good.

Another game of this kind can be found on this address: http://www.kidsgeo.com/geography-games/usa-capitals-map-game.php and it is pretty similar, only that the graphic is different. You will be asked a question “which is the capital of this state….?” And you will have 4 possible answers to choose from. If you are not sure of the answer you can use the “clue” button. Good luck!