Alabama Map Activity
A printable Alabama map worksheet: color the state, label Montgomery and its major cities, and draw in the rivers and higher ground.
5 questions · Map activity · Application
Alabama is one of the fifty states, and its capital is Montgomery. This sheet prints the outline of the state large enough to work on, with a star already marking the capital, and a small map of the whole country in the corner so a student can see where Alabama sits. The five tasks move from coloring the state in to placing its cities, rivers and mountains — the same order an atlas builds a map up in.
Alabama
Capital: Montgomery
Alabama Map Activity
This is a map of Alabama. Use the facts in the box and the star on the map to finish all five tasks.
Remember
- The capital of Alabama is Montgomery.
- Three of its largest cities are Birmingham, Mobile and Huntsville.
- Rivers in Alabama include Alabama River, Tombigbee River and Tennessee River.
- Its higher ground includes Appalachian Mountains.
Your tasks
Work down the list in order. Everything is done on the big map below.
- 1.
Color the whole state of Alabama lightly in one color, staying inside the outline.
- 2.
Find the star on the map. Write the name of the state capital on the line beside it.
- 3.
Mark and label these cities with a dot: Birmingham, Mobile and Huntsville.
- 4.
Draw and label these rivers: Alabama River and Tombigbee River.
- 5.
Shade where this higher ground is and label it: Appalachian Mountains.
★ marks Montgomery, the state capital. Write its name on the line.
Answer key
Your tasks
- 1.The whole outline is colored in, and the coloring stays inside the border.
- 2.Montgomery - the capital of Alabama. The star is printed where the city is.
- 3.Birmingham, Mobile and Huntsville - each marked with a dot and labeled. Birmingham is the largest of them.
- 4.Alabama River and Tombigbee River - drawn as a wiggly line and labeled.
- 5.Appalachian Mountains - shaded and labeled in roughly the right part of the state.
What this sheet teaches
- Find Alabama on a map of the United States.
- Name and locate Montgomery, the state capital.
- Locate Birmingham, Mobile and Huntsville within the state.
- Draw the main rivers of Alabama and say roughly where they run.
Notes for the adult
- Colored pencils are enough — nothing on the Alabama sheet needs paint, and the outline is large enough that a fine tip is not required either.
- Task 2 is the one to check first: the star is printed exactly where Montgomery is, so a child who writes another city has read the map rather than the fact box.
- Birmingham and the Alabama River are placed by eye. Mark them on whether they are in the right part of Alabama relative to Montgomery, not on whether they land within a mile of the truth.
What is on the page
Printed on one side, Alabama Map Activity runs to one part and five exercises. Map work throughout — one kind of exercise, done five times, rather than a page that changes its demand halfway down.
Under "Your tasks" there are five tasks, all of them carried out on the printed outline of Alabama rather than answered in writing.
Alabama on this sheet
The star is printed on Montgomery, close to the middle of the state, at roughly 32.4°N, 86.3°W. Of the 50 state capitals this site has a map sheet for, that makes it the 45th furthest north and the 29th furthest west. The nearest other state capital is Atlanta, about 145 miles away in Georgia — a useful thing to say out loud to a student who assumes every state is the size of their own.
The cities to mark are Birmingham, Mobile and Huntsville. Three rivers go on next — Alabama River, Tombigbee River and Tennessee River — drawn in by hand rather than traced. Higher ground is shaded last: Appalachian Mountains.
The outline of Alabama is about 1.5 times as tall as it is wide, which leaves narrow margins either side for city names. It is drawn from the same vector data as the map on this page, so what prints on paper is what is on the screen, and a photocopy of it holds up. Positions are estimated by eye: mark Birmingham on whether it is in the right part of Alabama, not on whether it lands within a mile of the truth.
What it asks of the student
Alabama Map Activity puts about 112 words of reading in front of the student — the fact box, the directions, every question, and every printed option. That is the number worth checking against a class before it goes out, because a sheet that is pitched right on the history and wrong on the reading fails for the same child either way. The longest single prompt on it runs to 18 words.
Nothing on Alabama Map Activity is answered on ruled lines — every response goes onto the map itself, or on the short rule beside a task — so the whole of it fits on one side of paper and the full answer key runs to 72 words.
Where this one sits
Alabama Map Activity is one of 61 US States & Capitals sheets on this site and one of 59 written for grade 4. 53 of them share its topic, the fifty states, which is worth knowing before printing two that overlap.
The closest things to it are Illinois Map Activity (grade 4) and Indiana Map Activity (grade 4). If Alabama Map Activity lands well, those are the ones to reach for next; if it lands badly, the application sheets a grade either side are usually the adjustment rather than a different topic altogether.
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The Fifty States at other grades
This sheet: Grade 4, 5 questions — map activity. The same topic is also written for:
- Recognizing the Fifty US States Worksheet — Grade 3 · 12 questions, matching, fill in the blank, multiple choice · application work
- Identifying the Fifty U.S. States — Grade 4 · 15 questions, matching, fill in the blank, multiple choice, short answer · application work
- Label the States on the Map — Grade 5 · 49 questions, map activity · application work