United States Coloring Book (Dover American History Coloring Books)

Just took this on a cross country road trip and my daughter loved it. She was able to learn something from every state we went to.

Perfect for educational summer fun

The media could not be loaded. It is a great coloring book because I think it will help them learn more about each state in an easier and fun way, it includes facts and important things about each state and their capitals.

If you have a right-brained thinker, this is a great way to memorize state capitals and other information. There are many bonuses in this inexpensive book. The state is 'darkened' on the US map to show where it is on the map, the state flower, bird, main rivers, etc...are a few of the details in addition to the capitals. When colored, it will be an even better visual for the learner. I'm impressed. It will stay in our library for reference later on, too.

So far, I only did a cursory look through the book and have decided it is a great introduction to each of the 50 states, but you may want to add in some additional facts and use it as a springboard to other research on each state. Below is what I think you should know when using this book:1. This book only shows each state's map by itself and unconnected to any other land mass or oceans. This means there is no actual size comparison between the states so children will think they are all the same size. It is therefore essential that a child have the map of the entire United States with each state outlined. The book does not include an entire map of the United States - so you will need to find one online and print it. You can either use a map where the states are already labeled or one that is blank that your child fills out as they complete each state in the coloring book.2. Check the validity of the presented facts by doing a quick Wikipedia search. For example: for California, the state flower is the "California poppy," but the book states its the "golden poppy." If there is a minor mistake like that, there may be others in the book.3. Important information is not included. For example: The noted geological feature for California is listed as Mt. Whitney, but there is no mention of Death valley (the lowest spot in the entire United States) and no mention of the San Andres fault line. In my opinion, BOTH of those are something geological significant for California that should have been included. Also not every geological feature presented on the map is labeled even if that feature is discussed in the text.4. It is important for students to have science included across the curriculum. So when studying geological features, It may be a good idea for teachers/parents to also include the science behind those features like volcanoes, canyons, fault lines, etc.. and maybe even do some STEM projects to build landmarks like bridges, skyscrapers, etc. It is important for students to think of science as connected to everything than a separate subject disconnected from their lives.5. It is also important for students to have mathematics included across the curriculum. Number wise, this book does not include how large state are, the heights of features, etc. The text only records when the state joined the union and the numbering of states entering the union. Students could put the states in order from 1-50 or put the states on a timeline, but they cannot do any comparisons. Therefore a teacher/parent would need to collect some current data of population, states sizes, heights of geologic features or landmarks, etc. to do comparison purposes and practice using greater than and less than signs... or plotting heights on a graph. Students could also do a simple column graph to count the first letter of each state and see that "M" is the most common letter. Older children could calculate population density (people divided by area) and then discuss which states have the most open space. Then discuss how this is not a realistic number because people tend to cluster in communities and large urban populations make the density dispersion extremely uneven. This shows students the limit of mathematics - it is a tool but not necessarily reality.6. The information provided is limited in scope, so teachers/parents may want to encourage children to look up more information on each state and pick three other significant facts the coloring book should have included for a given state and then justify those declensions. In a classroom this would be a good way to get children to do a mini presentation and practice public speaking skills etc.

We homeschool and my daughter is going to be learning capitals and states this year. She’ll be able to color each lave and learn simple facts about each state. Hopefully it’s a win!

On a long trip our grandkids played the license plate game and used this coloring book to learn a little bout each state when they got a new state. Worked great and kept them engage. They found 37 states, Washington DC and 3 Canadian provinces!

We love this and think it’s a great book to help study our state facts. Thanks!