New Mexico Map Activity
A printable New Mexico map worksheet: color the state, label Santa Fe and its major cities, and draw in the rivers and higher ground.
5 questions · Map activity · Application
New Mexico is one of the fifty states, and its capital is Santa Fe. 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 New Mexico 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.
New Mexico
Capital: Santa Fe
New Mexico Map Activity
This is a map of New Mexico. Use the facts in the box and the star on the map to finish all five tasks.
Remember
- The capital of New Mexico is Santa Fe.
- Three of its largest cities are Albuquerque, Las Cruces and Roswell.
- Rivers in New Mexico include Rio Grande, Pecos River and San Juan River.
- Its higher ground includes Sangre de Cristo Mountains and Rocky Mountains.
Your tasks
Work down the list in order. Everything is done on the big map below.
- 1.
Color the whole state of New Mexico 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: Albuquerque, Las Cruces and Roswell.
- 4.
Draw and label these rivers: Rio Grande and Pecos River.
- 5.
Shade where this higher ground is and label it: Sangre de Cristo Mountains and Rocky Mountains.
★ marks Santa Fe, 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.Santa Fe - the capital of New Mexico. The star is printed where the city is.
- 3.Albuquerque, Las Cruces and Roswell - each marked with a dot and labeled. Albuquerque is the largest of them.
- 4.Rio Grande and Pecos River - drawn as a wiggly line and labeled.
- 5.Sangre de Cristo Mountains and Rocky Mountains - shaded and labeled in roughly the right part of the state.
What this sheet teaches
- Find New Mexico on a map of the United States.
- Name and locate Santa Fe, the state capital.
- Locate Albuquerque, Las Cruces and Roswell within the state.
- Draw the main rivers of New Mexico and say roughly where they run.
Notes for the adult
- Colored pencils are enough — nothing on the New Mexico 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 Santa Fe is, so a child who writes another city has read the map rather than the fact box.
- Albuquerque and the Rio Grande are placed by eye. Mark them on whether they are in the right part of New Mexico relative to Santa Fe, not on whether they land within a mile of the truth.
What is on the page
There are one part to New Mexico Map Activity, five exercises between them. 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 New Mexico rather than answered in writing.
New Mexico on this sheet
The star is printed on Santa Fe, in the north of the state, at roughly 35.7°N, 105.9°W. Of the 50 state capitals this site has a map sheet for, that makes it the 39th furthest north and the 11th furthest west. The nearest other state capital is Denver, about 285 miles away in Colorado — 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 Albuquerque, Las Cruces and Roswell. Three rivers go on next — Rio Grande, Pecos River and San Juan River — drawn in by hand rather than traced. Higher ground is shaded last: Sangre de Cristo Mountains and Rocky Mountains.
The outline of New Mexico 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 Albuquerque on whether it is in the right part of New Mexico, not on whether it lands within a mile of the truth.
What it asks of the student
New Mexico Map Activity puts about 129 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 New Mexico 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 80 words.
Where this one sits
New Mexico 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 Alabama Map Activity (grade 4) and Alaska Map Activity (grade 4). If New Mexico 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.
More like this
Two-Letter State Abbreviations Practice Worksheet
Grade 8 worksheet on USPS two-letter state abbreviations, drilling easily confused pairs like MN/MS and AR/AZ through matching, analysis, and recall.
US States by Region
Grade 6 worksheet on US regions: students match, analyze, and explain which states belong to the Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest, or West.
State Capitals — Matching and Analysis Worksheet
Drill state capitals with matching, multiple-choice, and short-answer questions focused on states whose largest city is not the capital.
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