Illinois Map Activity
A printable Illinois map worksheet: color the state, label Springfield and its major cities, and draw in the rivers and higher ground.
5 questions · Map activity · Application
Illinois is one of the fifty states, and its capital is Springfield. 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 Illinois sits. The five tasks move from coloring the state in to placing its cities, rivers — the same order an atlas builds a map up in.
Illinois
Capital: Springfield
Illinois Map Activity
This is a map of Illinois. Use the facts in the box and the star on the map to finish all five tasks.
Remember
- The capital of Illinois is Springfield.
- Three of its largest cities are Chicago, Peoria and Rockford.
- Rivers in Illinois include Mississippi River, Illinois River and Ohio River.
- Illinois has no mountain range — the land is low and mostly flat.
Your tasks
Work down the list in order. Everything is done on the big map below.
- 1.
Color the whole state of Illinois 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: Chicago, Peoria and Rockford.
- 4.
Draw and label these rivers: Mississippi River and Illinois River.
- 5.
Illinois has no mountain range. Write "no mountains" in a corner of the map and say what the land is like instead.
★ marks Springfield, 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.Springfield - the capital of Illinois. The star is printed where the city is.
- 3.Chicago, Peoria and Rockford - each marked with a dot and labeled. Chicago is the largest of them.
- 4.Mississippi River and Illinois River - drawn as a wiggly line and labeled.
- 5.No mountain range. Illinois is low and flat, so the answer describes plains, coast or lowland.
What this sheet teaches
- Find Illinois on a map of the United States.
- Name and locate Springfield, the state capital.
- Locate Chicago, Peoria and Rockford within the state.
- Draw the main rivers of Illinois and say roughly where they run.
Notes for the adult
- Colored pencils are enough — nothing on the Illinois 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 Springfield is, so a child who writes another city has read the map rather than the fact box.
- Chicago and the Mississippi River are placed by eye. Mark them on whether they are in the right part of Illinois relative to Springfield, not on whether they land within a mile of the truth.
What is on the page
Printed on one side, Illinois 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 Illinois rather than answered in writing.
Illinois on this sheet
The star is printed on Springfield, close to the middle of the state, at roughly 39.8°N, 89.7°W. Of the 50 state capitals this site has a map sheet for, that makes it the 25th furthest north and the 26th furthest west. The nearest other state capital is Jefferson City, about 160 miles away in Missouri — 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 Chicago, Peoria and Rockford. Three rivers go on next — Mississippi River, Illinois River and Ohio River — drawn in by hand rather than traced. There is no relief to shade on this one — Illinois has no range named in the sheet's fact box, so the map finishes at the rivers and the page stays a little quicker than most.
The outline of Illinois is about 1.7 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 Chicago on whether it is in the right part of Illinois, not on whether it lands within a mile of the truth.
What it asks of the student
Illinois Map Activity puts about 130 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 22 words.
Nothing on Illinois 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 74 words.
Where this one sits
Illinois 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 Recognizing the Fifty US States Worksheet (grade 3) and Identifying the Fifty U.S. States (grade 4). If Illinois 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