Arkansas Map Activity
A printable Arkansas map worksheet: color the state, label Little Rock and its major cities, and draw in the rivers and higher ground.
5 questions · Map activity · Application
Arkansas is one of the fifty states, and its capital is Little Rock. 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 Arkansas 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.
Arkansas
Capital: Little Rock
Arkansas Map Activity
This is a map of Arkansas. Use the facts in the box and the star on the map to finish all five tasks.
Remember
- The capital of Arkansas is Little Rock.
- Three of its largest cities are Fayetteville, Fort Smith and Jonesboro.
- Rivers in Arkansas include Arkansas River, Mississippi River and White River.
- Its higher ground includes Ozark Mountains and Ouachita Mountains.
Your tasks
Work down the list in order. Everything is done on the big map below.
- 1.
Color the whole state of Arkansas 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: Fayetteville, Fort Smith and Jonesboro.
- 4.
Draw and label these rivers: Arkansas River and Mississippi River.
- 5.
Shade where this higher ground is and label it: Ozark Mountains and Ouachita Mountains.
★ marks Little Rock, 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.Little Rock - the capital of Arkansas. The star is printed where the city is.
- 3.Fayetteville, Fort Smith and Jonesboro - each marked with a dot and labeled. Fayetteville is the largest of them.
- 4.Arkansas River and Mississippi River - drawn as a wiggly line and labeled.
- 5.Ozark Mountains and Ouachita Mountains - shaded and labeled in roughly the right part of the state.
What this sheet teaches
- Find Arkansas on a map of the United States.
- Name and locate Little Rock, the state capital.
- Locate Fayetteville, Fort Smith and Jonesboro within the state.
- Draw the main rivers of Arkansas and say roughly where they run.
Notes for the adult
- Colored pencils are enough — nothing on the Arkansas 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 Little Rock is, so a child who writes another city has read the map rather than the fact box.
- Fayetteville and the Arkansas River are placed by eye. Mark them on whether they are in the right part of Arkansas relative to Little Rock, not on whether they land within a mile of the truth.
What is on the page
Arkansas Map Activity is in one part and comes to five exercises in total. 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 Arkansas rather than answered in writing.
Arkansas on this sheet
The star is printed on Little Rock, close to the middle of the state, at roughly 34.7°N, 92.3°W. Of the 50 state capitals this site has a map sheet for, that makes it the 41st furthest north and the 22nd furthest west. The nearest other state capital is Jackson, about 210 miles away in Mississippi — 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 Fayetteville, Fort Smith and Jonesboro. Three rivers go on next — Arkansas River, Mississippi River and White River — drawn in by hand rather than traced. Higher ground is shaded last: Ozark Mountains and Ouachita Mountains.
The outline of Arkansas is close to square on the page, which gives roughly equal room in every direction for labels. 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 Fayetteville on whether it is in the right part of Arkansas, not on whether it lands within a mile of the truth.
What it asks of the student
Arkansas Map Activity puts about 121 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 Arkansas 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 77 words.
Where this one sits
Arkansas 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 Tennessee Map Activity (grade 4) and Texas Map Activity (grade 4). If Arkansas 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