During our travels we’ve been learning the capital of each state that we travel through.  To help us remember, we’re using “movies” in our minds.  Here are the movies to help your children remember too:

Tennessee - Picture a tennis player smashing a large pill over the net, instead of a ball.
Smash+pill=Nashville, tennis = Tennessee

Virginia – A very rich man asked a cute girl named Virginia for a date.
Rich+man=Richmond, girl’s name=Virginia

Maryland – You see a woman dressed as a bride dangling an apple from a fishing pole.  She’s trying to hook her groom, not a fish.  She really wants to land this one and get married.
Apple+pole=Annapolis, married+land=Maryland

North Carolina – Think of the North Pole and carolers.  These carolers aren’t singing Christmas songs.  Instead, they’re cheering, “Rah, Rah, Rah!”
Rah=Raleigh, North Pole Carolers=North Carolina

Pennsylvania – You’re a cartoonist and you’re using a pencil to draw a cartoon of a hamburger with weird punk-rocker hair.
Hairy hamburger=Harrisburg, the cartoonist’s pencil=Pennsylvania

New York – Picture the Empire State Building in New York City (New York is the Empire State).  Now picture a bunch of bunnies hopping all over it.
All bunnies=Albany, Empire State Building=New York

New Jersey – Your favorite football player took off his brand new jersey and stretched it out on the ground.  Then he put a tent on the jersey.
Tent+on=Trenton, football jersey=New Jersey

Connecticut – Picture a giant heart flopping around in the back of a Ford truck.  What keeps it from bouncing out of the truck?  It’s connected with a rope.
Heart+Ford=Hartford, connected by a rope=Connecticut

Rhode Island – Picture a small island that you can hold in your hand.  On the island is a tiny road.  You see a professor walking down the road searching for evidence of a lost civilization.
Prof+evidence=Providence, road+island=Rhode Island

from Kids Learn America! by Patricia Gordon and Reed Snow