Washington Map Activity
A printable Washington map worksheet: color the state, label Olympia and its major cities, and draw in the rivers and higher ground.
5 questions · Map activity · Application
Washington is one of the fifty states, and its capital is Olympia. 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 Washington 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.
Washington
Capital: Olympia
Washington Map Activity
This is a map of Washington. Use the facts in the box and the star on the map to finish all five tasks.
Remember
- The capital of Washington is Olympia.
- Three of its largest cities are Seattle, Spokane and Tacoma.
- Rivers in Washington include Columbia River, Snake River and Puget Sound rivers.
- Its higher ground includes Cascade Range and Olympic Mountains.
Your tasks
Work down the list in order. Everything is done on the big map below.
- 1.
Color the whole state of Washington 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: Seattle, Spokane and Tacoma.
- 4.
Draw and label these rivers: Columbia River and Snake River.
- 5.
Shade where this higher ground is and label it: Cascade Range and Olympic Mountains.
★ marks Olympia, 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.Olympia - the capital of Washington. The star is printed where the city is.
- 3.Seattle, Spokane and Tacoma - each marked with a dot and labeled. Seattle is the largest of them.
- 4.Columbia River and Snake River - drawn as a wiggly line and labeled.
- 5.Cascade Range and Olympic Mountains - shaded and labeled in roughly the right part of the state.
What this sheet teaches
- Find Washington on a map of the United States.
- Name and locate Olympia, the state capital.
- Locate Seattle, Spokane and Tacoma within the state.
- Draw the main rivers of Washington and say roughly where they run.
Notes for the adult
- Colored pencils are enough — nothing on the Washington 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 Olympia is, so a child who writes another city has read the map rather than the fact box.
- Seattle and the Columbia River are placed by eye. Mark them on whether they are in the right part of Washington relative to Olympia, not on whether they land within a mile of the truth.
What is on the page
There are one part to Washington 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 Washington rather than answered in writing.
Washington on this sheet
The star is printed on Olympia, in the west of the state, at roughly 47.0°N, 122.9°W. Of the 50 state capitals this site has a map sheet for, that makes it the 2nd furthest north and the 4th furthest west. The nearest other state capital is Salem, about 145 miles away in Oregon — 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 Seattle, Spokane and Tacoma. Three rivers go on next — Columbia River, Snake River and Puget Sound rivers — drawn in by hand rather than traced. Higher ground is shaded last: Cascade Range and Olympic Mountains.
The outline of Washington is about 1.3 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 Seattle on whether it is in the right part of Washington, not on whether it lands within a mile of the truth.
What it asks of the student
Washington 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 Washington 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 75 words.
Where this one sits
Washington 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 Oregon Map Activity (grade 4) and Pennsylvania Map Activity (grade 4). If Washington 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