Minnesota Map Activity
A printable Minnesota map worksheet: color the state, label Saint Paul and its major cities, and draw in the rivers and higher ground.
5 questions · Map activity · Application
Minnesota is one of the fifty states, and its capital is Saint Paul. 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 Minnesota 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.
Minnesota
Capital: Saint Paul
Minnesota Map Activity
This is a map of Minnesota. Use the facts in the box and the star on the map to finish all five tasks.
Remember
- The capital of Minnesota is Saint Paul.
- Three of its largest cities are Minneapolis, Duluth and Rochester.
- Rivers in Minnesota include Mississippi River, Minnesota River and Red River of the North.
- Its higher ground includes Mesabi Range.
Your tasks
Work down the list in order. Everything is done on the big map below.
- 1.
Color the whole state of Minnesota 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: Minneapolis, Duluth and Rochester.
- 4.
Draw and label these rivers: Mississippi River and Minnesota River.
- 5.
Shade where this higher ground is and label it: Mesabi Range.
★ marks Saint Paul, 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.Saint Paul - the capital of Minnesota. The star is printed where the city is.
- 3.Minneapolis, Duluth and Rochester - each marked with a dot and labeled. Minneapolis is the largest of them.
- 4.Mississippi River and Minnesota River - drawn as a wiggly line and labeled.
- 5.Mesabi Range - shaded and labeled in roughly the right part of the state.
What this sheet teaches
- Find Minnesota on a map of the United States.
- Name and locate Saint Paul, the state capital.
- Locate Minneapolis, Duluth and Rochester within the state.
- Draw the main rivers of Minnesota and say roughly where they run.
Notes for the adult
- Colored pencils are enough — nothing on the Minnesota 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 Saint Paul is, so a child who writes another city has read the map rather than the fact box.
- Minneapolis and the Mississippi River are placed by eye. Mark them on whether they are in the right part of Minnesota relative to Saint Paul, not on whether they land within a mile of the truth.
What is on the page
Printed on one side, Minnesota 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 Minnesota rather than answered in writing.
Minnesota on this sheet
The star is printed on Saint Paul, in the south of the state, at roughly 45.0°N, 93.1°W. Of the 50 state capitals this site has a map sheet for, that makes it the 5th furthest north and the 21st furthest west. The nearest other state capital is Madison, about 225 miles away in Wisconsin — 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 Minneapolis, Duluth and Rochester. Three rivers go on next — Mississippi River, Minnesota River and Red River of the North — drawn in by hand rather than traced. Higher ground is shaded last: Mesabi Range.
The outline of Minnesota 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 Minneapolis on whether it is in the right part of Minnesota, not on whether it lands within a mile of the truth.
What it asks of the student
Minnesota Map Activity puts about 116 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 Minnesota 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 73 words.
Where this one sits
Minnesota 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 Connecticut Map Activity (grade 4) and Delaware Map Activity (grade 4). If Minnesota 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