Oklahoma Map Activity
A printable Oklahoma map worksheet: color the state, label Oklahoma City and its major cities, and draw in the rivers and higher ground.
5 questions · Map activity · Application
Oklahoma is one of the fifty states, and its capital is Oklahoma City. 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 Oklahoma 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.
Oklahoma
Capital: Oklahoma City
Oklahoma Map Activity
This is a map of Oklahoma. Use the facts in the box and the star on the map to finish all five tasks.
Remember
- The capital of Oklahoma is Oklahoma City.
- Three of its largest cities are Tulsa, Norman and Lawton.
- Rivers in Oklahoma include Arkansas River, Red River and Canadian River.
- Its higher ground includes Ouachita Mountains and Wichita Mountains.
Your tasks
Work down the list in order. Everything is done on the big map below.
- 1.
Color the whole state of Oklahoma 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: Tulsa, Norman and Lawton.
- 4.
Draw and label these rivers: Arkansas River and Red River.
- 5.
Shade where this higher ground is and label it: Ouachita Mountains and Wichita Mountains.
★ marks Oklahoma City, 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.Oklahoma City - the capital of Oklahoma. The star is printed where the city is.
- 3.Tulsa, Norman and Lawton - each marked with a dot and labeled. Tulsa is the largest of them.
- 4.Arkansas River and Red River - drawn as a wiggly line and labeled.
- 5.Ouachita Mountains and Wichita Mountains - shaded and labeled in roughly the right part of the state.
What this sheet teaches
- Find Oklahoma on a map of the United States.
- Name and locate Oklahoma City, the state capital.
- Locate Tulsa, Norman and Lawton within the state.
- Draw the main rivers of Oklahoma and say roughly where they run.
Notes for the adult
- Colored pencils are enough — nothing on the Oklahoma 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 Oklahoma City is, so a child who writes another city has read the map rather than the fact box.
- Tulsa and the Arkansas River are placed by eye. Mark them on whether they are in the right part of Oklahoma relative to Oklahoma City, not on whether they land within a mile of the truth.
What is on the page
Printed on one side, Oklahoma 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 Oklahoma rather than answered in writing.
Oklahoma on this sheet
The star is printed on Oklahoma City, close to the middle of the state, at roughly 35.5°N, 97.5°W. Of the 50 state capitals this site has a map sheet for, that makes it the 40th furthest north and the 17th furthest west. The nearest other state capital is Topeka, about 265 miles away in Kansas — 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 Tulsa, Norman and Lawton. Three rivers go on next — Arkansas River, Red River and Canadian River — drawn in by hand rather than traced. Higher ground is shaded last: Ouachita Mountains and Wichita Mountains.
The outline of Oklahoma is about 1.9 times as wide as it is tall, so the widest labels are the ones that need planning before the pencil goes down. 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 Tulsa on whether it is in the right part of Oklahoma, not on whether it lands within a mile of the truth.
What it asks of the student
Oklahoma Map Activity puts about 119 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 Oklahoma 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 76 words.
Where this one sits
Oklahoma 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 Arizona Map Activity (grade 4) and Arkansas Map Activity (grade 4). If Oklahoma 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