A Fun Way to Learn US State Capitals

Looking for a unique way for elementary school kids to memorize state capitals?

Try the state capitals song and video from Warner Bros. Animaniacs. It's from a Season One; Episode 20, skit titled Wakko's America. Wakko names the 50 states and their capitals in a Jeopardy style game in his classroom.

I know for me it's much easier remember the words to a song than it is to memorize facts. This is a great way to combine the two.

• In the beginning of the clip it shows this text: THE NAMES OF ALL FIFTY STATES AND THEIR CAPITOLS. Capitols should be written as Capitals (with an "a"). A Capitol is a building. Capitals are the cities where these buildings are located.
• Washington, D.C. is sung but is not a state capital.
• Jefferson (Missouri) should be Jefferson City.
• "Oklahoma and its city" is Oklahoma City.

Sung to the tune of Turkey in the Straw.

Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Indianapolis, Indiana
And Columbus is the capital of Ohio
There's Montgomery, Alabama, south of Helena, Montana
Then there's Denver, Colorado, under Boise, Idaho.

Texas has Austin, then we go north
To Massachusetts' Boston, and Albany, New York
Tallahassee, Florida, and Washington, D.C.
Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Nashville, Tennessee.

Elvis used to hang out there a lot, ya know.

Trenton's in New Jersey, north of Jefferson, Missouri
You've got Richmond in Virginia; South Dakota has Pierre
Harrisburg's in Pennsylvania and Augusta's up in Maine
And here is Providence, Rhode Island, next to Dover, Delaware.

Concord, New Hampshire, just a quick jaunt
To Montpelier, which is up in Vermont
Hartford's in Connecticut, so pretty in the fall
And Kansas has Topeka; Minnesota has St Paul.

Juneau's in Alaska and there's Lincoln in Nebraska
And it's Raleigh out in North Carolina and then
There's Madison, Wisconsin, and Olympia in Washington
Phoenix, Arizona, and Lansing, Michigan.

Here's Honolulu; Hawaii's a joy
Jackson, Mississippi, and Springfield, Illinois
South Carolina with Columbia down the way
And Annapolis in Maryland on Chesapeake Bay.

They have wonderful clam chowder.

Cheyenne is in Wyomin' and perhaps you make your home in
Salt Lake City out in Utah, where the Buffalo roam
Atlanta's down in Georgia, and there's Bismarck, North Dakota
And you can live in Frankfort in your old Kentucky home.

Salem in Oregon; from there we join
Little Rock in Arkansas; Iowa's got Des Moines
Sacramento, California; Oklahoma and its city
Charleston, West Virginia, and Nevada, Carson City.

That's all the capitals there are!

Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs! The adventures (or misadventures) of the Warner Brothers, Yakko and Wakko, and the Warner Sister, Dot, who were so crazy that the studio execs locked them away in the water town at the Studio. The witty, slapstick humor with pop culture parodies and cartoon wackiness is on DVD for the first time ever with 25 fantastic Animaniacs episodes.

Wakko's America Song is included in Disc 5 of this 5 disc set.