South Dakota Class Game Rush to Rushmore Free PDF
This post has a free South Dakota game Rush to Rushmore printable. This post is part of the Booking Across the USA blog hop. Many thanks to Jodie of Growing Book by Book for hosting this event. You can visit blog posts for all 50 states for a virtual learning and travel experience. I wrote a second post about Minnesota for Booking Across the USA, also with a free printable game. See also my Grand Marais, MN post. See my free game for South Dakota near the end of this blog post, RUSH TO RUSHMORE.
We have a new book by the Wilhelm family about the outside art in Faulkton, South Dakota. Free ebook for a few days on Amazon, January 14-16, 2022.
Welcome to South Dakota!
I started preparing for this blog post by reading two books about South Dakota for Booking Across the USA event. Always go to the library first!
 | SOUTH DAKOTA: FACTS AND SYMBOLS was written by Kathy Feeney. This book would be good for grades 2-4. A picture page alternates with a fact page. Easy to follow format including a table of contents, a glossary (words to know), an index, and suggested Internet sites. |
 | SOUTH DAKOTA: HELLO U.S.A. was written by Karen Sirvaitis. This book would be good for grades 4 through 8. It has complex information about the situation of the Native Americans and farming difficulties in the fairly constant drought conditions in South Dakota. It has a table of contents, an extensive index, glossary, suggested further reading, and a list of Internet sites. |
Of course, you know Mount Rushmore is in South Dakota.
You probably also know that Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote several of her Little House books while living in South Dakota.
The capitol of South Dakota is in Pierre.
Ellsworth Air Force Base is also in South Dakota.
Did you know these famous people are from South Dakota?
George McGovern, Sparky Anderson, Tom Brokaw, Vera Cleaver, Vine Deloria Jr., Judith Evelyn, Mary Hart, Oscar Howe, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Cheryl Ladd, Rose Wilder Lane, Russell Means, Alton Ochsner, Jess Thomas, and Norm Van Brocklin are all from South Dakota. Their photos and biographies are in the South Dakota Hello U.S.A. book. This book also has a delicious Wojapi (berry pudding) recipe for a jam type sauce for ice cream, a popular dessert of the Lakota (Sioux) and other Plains Native Americans.
Here is a quick view of things to do when on vacation in South Dakota. These photos are used with the permission of Child Central Station blog.
The Corn Palace (photo below) is located in Mitchell, South Dakota. The murals and designs covering the building are made from corn and other grains. The designs are amazing, and half a million people visit the palace each year.
This post is supposed to include a craft for children, and so first I have a link to a post that has an excellent corn kernel art project that would be perfect as a supplement to learning about the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota. At the Two Little, Two Big blog, there is a blog post about making Coloured Popcorn Kernels {The Popcorn Book by Tomie de Paola}.
This blogger is from Canada. It is so fun meeting other bloggers online! Anyway, she did that post so well you can really understand how the corn palace mosaics were made although she wasn’t referring to it! Here is a free PDF of corn for making a mosaic picture.
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Child Central Station also has a nice post on making bean mosaics, which would be much easier to find than colored popcorn. Here is a photo of the finished product, and a link to the blog post with step-by-step photos and instructions.
Candace Lindemann at the Naturally Educational blog has a wonderful corn-husk doll post. There are step-by-step instructions and even a video at the post demonstrating the entire project. I remember making corn husk dolls with my second graders my first year of teaching (what a mess we had on the floor afterwards). Thank goodness I learned many teaching tricks after that experience! In the video, listen for the daughter’s comments at the end, very cute.
As you know, everything bloggers try doesn’t always work perfectly! I tried making a palace with a Skittles owl, and it was a disaster. I used a brown paper grocery bag for the palace. However, the photo below might give some more talented people an idea for a project for younger children. Disclosure: I compensated myself 10 Skittles for trying!
After reading the books about South Dakota, I made a free game which may be printed in color or in black and white, RUSH TO MOUNT RUSHMORE. Most of the answers to questions in the game could be answered with the easier book, SOUTH DAKOTA: FACTS AND SYMBOLS, by Kathy Feeney. A few of the questions could easily be located by using an encyclopedia or search engine. Either book would have most of the answers. A special thanks to Phillip Martin for allowing me to use his free clip art of Mount Rushmore and more art for this game.
The question and answer cards are to be matched pairs while playing the game, and they are numbered to ensure students will learn the correct information.
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Below are a few photos from the 39 page printable game with color and black and white printing options. Younger children may just match numbers on cards, and upper-grade students will learn facts. This is a children’s game and it does not cover any wars or complex issuea.
As you can see, the game cards are numbered in such a way as to allow the game to be played as a learning game. Children can match the numbers as they learn facts about South Dakota. These cards show that South Dakota’s nickname is the Mount Rushmore State and that the state animal is the coyote.
These cards will help students learn the names of the President’s carved on Mount Rushmore. They will learn the state flower is the Pasque flower, the state tree is the Black Spruce, and the state insect is the Honeybee.
I hope your students enjoy playing the game.
I wanted to make something to eat from South Dakota, and finally decided on Buffalo Burgers. Buffalo meat is sold from South Dakota, and also other states. We are in Grand Marais, MN, and our town is tiny so I was only able to get buffalo meat from Wisconsin. However, the basic idea is that buffalo meat is healthier than hamburger. It doesn’t shrink when it is cooked. It is becoming more available in restaurants.
I hope you enjoyed learning about South Dakota. Thank you for reading!
This is a link to the Travel South Dakota site, and I am adding this without compensation because it is a good idea for a wonderful family trip: travel to South Dakota
Carolyn
