Printing a good blank map comes down to three choices: the map, the version and the paper. On Mapsfera’s blank maps you pick all three, press “Print” or “Download PDF”, and the sheet comes out at actual size, with margins so nothing gets cut off. Here are the steps, how to avoid the most common printing problems, and seven ways to use the map in class, including worksheets that come with an answer key.
Step by step: from the map to the page
- Open the blank maps and pick one: the United States with its 50 states, the world, Europe, each continent, or more than forty countries by their states or regions.
- Under “Set up your sheet”, choose the version:
- Blank: outlines only.
- Numbered: each state or country with a number, and the key on the side.
- Labeled: everything named, for studying.
- Capitals: a dot on each capital.
- Choose the paper size (Letter or Tabloid in the US; A4 and A3 everywhere else) and the orientation, portrait or landscape.
- Add a title on the sheet if you like.
- Press “Print” or “Download PDF”. You can also download it as PNG, or as SVG to edit it.
The numbered US states map on Letter paper, landscape, is the classic sheet for a states and capitals unit.
Keep it from getting cut off
Your browser’s print window opens with Ctrl + P (Cmd + P on a Mac). In it:
- Same paper in both places. If you choose Letter in Mapsfera, the printer has to be set to Letter, not A4. That’s the most common reason an edge gets clipped.
- Scale at 100%. Don’t use “fit to page”: the sheet already comes at its size, with printing margins.
- To save a PDF, choose “Save as PDF” as the destination in the print window.
- For a bigger map, choose Tabloid (11 × 17 in). If your printer can’t take it, print on Letter and enlarge to 129% on the copier: that’s exactly the step from Letter to Tabloid.
For coloring, use heavier paper if you can (24 lb or more): markers won’t bleed through as much.
Which version for which activity
| Version | Good for |
|---|---|
| Blank | Coloring, drawing rivers and mountains, “name every state” tests with no hints |
| Numbered | “Write the name of number…” exercises, and quick grading with the key |
| Labeled | Studying, a classroom wall map, review before a test |
| Capitals | Placing capitals, matching each capital to its state |
Seven classroom activities
- Name the states. On the numbered map, students write the name of each number. Start with 8 or 10 and build up.
- Color the regions. On the blank map, color the four Census regions (Northeast, Midwest, South and West) in four colors. It shows at a glance how the country is usually divided.
- The 13 colonies. Shade the 13 original states, from New Hampshire down to Georgia, and compare them with the size of the country today.
- Rivers and mountains. On the blank map, draw the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Ohio and the Colorado, and the Rockies and the Appalachians, with the textbook open.
- Map dictation. The teacher says “the state north of Texas and west of Arkansas” and students color it. It works really well in pairs.
- The quiz on the smartboard. Put the map quiz on the board and have the class say where each state is. With the class challenge, everyone who opens the same link gets the same questions, in the same order, so results can be compared.
- Time zones. For older students: draw the time zones on the blank map using the US time zone map, then work out what time it is in each state.
Worksheets with an answer key
If you’d rather have the activity ready to go, the map worksheets come as two pages: the worksheet (with lines for the name, class and date, the numbered map and up to three activities) and the answer key. You choose:
- the map (the United States, Europe, the world, Spain or one of its regions);
- the activities: write the names, color, and questions;
- how many names to ask for (6 to 16) and the level (easy, normal or hard).
Each worksheet has a number. The same number always gives the same worksheet, so you can reuse it next year; “New worksheet” gives you a different one at the same level. A tip for tests: two different numbers for alternating rows, and nobody copies from their neighbor.
License: you can photocopy them
The maps are free for classroom and personal use: print them, copy them and hand them out without asking. If you publish them (in a blog, a book or a slide deck you share), credit them as shown on each map’s page. US state outlines come from the Census Bureau and the rest of the world from Natural Earth.
Would you rather color on screen? Color a map lets students paint each state or country and download the result. And to see a county with all its towns, open the county map with cities.