Types of Maps interactive worksheet - Free Printable

Let’s look at each map and figure out what type it is.

First, remember the main types of maps:
- Physical map: Shows natural features like mountains, rivers, deserts — uses colors to show elevation or landforms.
- Political map: Shows countries, states, cities, borders — focuses on human-made boundaries.
- Topographic map: A detailed physical map that shows elevation with contour lines (but sometimes “physical” and “topographic” are used similarly in basic lessons).
- Thematic map: Focuses on one theme — like population, climate, etc. (not needed here).

Now let’s go map by map:

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Map 1 (top left): This is a map of the USA showing different colors for height — brown for high areas (mountains), green for low areas (plains). It doesn’t focus on state borders or cities — it’s about landforms. → Physical map

Map 2 (top right): This map of the USA has all the states colored differently, labeled with names, capitals marked, and clear borders. It’s focused on political divisions. → Political map

Map 3 (bottom left): This is South America, again using color to show elevation — orange/brown for Andes Mountains, green for lowlands. No country names or borders emphasized. → Physical map

Map 4 (bottom middle): This map shows Brazil and surrounding countries with clear national borders, country names, oceans labeled. It’s focused on political boundaries. → Political map

Map 5 (bottom right): This is the UK and Ireland. You can see hills/mountains shown with shading and color gradients (like Scotland’s Highlands), plus some place names. But it also includes country borders and cities. Wait — actually, looking closely, it uses color to show elevation (green = low, yellow/orange = higher) AND labels regions/countries. In many school contexts, if it emphasizes terrain over borders, it’s physical. But this one has both. However, since the coloring clearly represents elevation (you can see the Scottish Highlands in darker tones), and there’s even a small legend for elevation in the corner — this is meant to be a physical map.

Wait — let me double-check Map 5. The UK map does have country names (England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland) and cities, but the background coloring is definitely showing relief/terrain. Many textbooks classify such maps as “physical” when terrain is the dominant visual feature. Also, note that Map 4 (South America political) has no terrain coloring — just flat colors per country. So Map 5 is likely intended as physical, because of the elevation shading.

Actually — hold on! Let’s compare:

- Map 1: Physical (USA terrain)
- Map 2: Political (USA states)
- Map 3: Physical (South America terrain)
- Map 4: Political (Brazil + neighbors — flat colors per country)
- Map 5: UK — has terrain shading AND political labels. But in elementary social science, if it shows elevation with color gradients, it’s often called “physical”. Also, notice the little elevation key in the bottom left of Map 5 — that confirms it’s emphasizing physical features.

So final classification:

Top Left → Physical
Top Right → Political
Bottom Left → Physical
Bottom Middle → Political
Bottom Right → Physical

But wait — let’s count how many boxes we need to fill. There are five maps and five blank boxes below them.

Order from top to bottom, left to right:

1. Top-left map → Physical
2. Top-right map → Political
3. Bottom-left map → Physical
4. Bottom-middle map → Political
5. Bottom-right map → Physical

Yes, that makes sense.

Final Answer:
Physical
Political
Physical
Political
Physical