My Little States Expert

For Christmas, my daughter received two US States puzzles and quickly mastered them. We had one for our house and one for my parents house. She would do the puzzle at least once a day for most of January or February. She got to the point that she could identify a state if we held the piece up to her backwards so she couldn't see the words and pictures.

Since she has an iPod Touch, I went searching for a states app for her. I found the free app GeoMaster - US States. This state shows a map of the contiguous 48 states and gives you a capital and state name and you have to tap the corresponding state (once to tap the general area and once to tap the exact state). It says the capital and state aloud and displays them. She quickly mastered this application often reeling off 40+ states correct in succession. While I knew the 50 capitals once upon a time, I have to admit that she has helped me to remember them.


With the release of the iPad2, we decided to buy a discounted first generation iPad. While GeoMaster - US States will run on the iPad, she had already mastered that application and it was running at lower resolution in the large screen size. So, I started searching for a different application. I decided to give Stack the States a try. There is a lite version, but I decided to buy the full version because it includes extra state games. Stack the States is also nice in that it is both an iPad and in iPhone application.

My daughter loves Stack the States. The application will give you a multiple choice question providing 4 possible states. The questions include identifying a state by name, matching a state to its abbreviation, capital, landmark, nickname, bordering state or country, or "large" city. After answering the question right, you will be given a state to add to your stack. Once you stack your states to the line, you will be rewarded with a state for your collection. As you collect more states you will unlock three additional games. Also, with time, your line will rise higher making it harder to earn your states.

The application does require reading since it does not read the questions aloud. My daughter does need a little help since she is still a beginning reader, but she is getting more confident in her reading on this application. Also, I talk her through some of the questions when she does not know the answer.

My daughter has learned so much about the states playing this game. I even learn something about some lesser know state parks, state nicknames, or some of the smaller cities. She is also learning about stacking the states to keep them from toppling learning a little physics.

My only complaint about the game is that some of the "major cities" are not that major. For example, the other day we were asked what state Columbus was in. My daughter and I both thought it was easy - Ohio. But, Ohio was not one of the choices. We ended up having to guess. I don't remember which state it was in. There have also been a few other small cities that I only knew because of living in the area.

With her fascination with the states, I have told my husband we are going to need quite the travel budget to keep her satisfied. She has already been to 13 states at age 5 and will be adding one more shortly.

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