Printable North America Worksheets
North America is home to twenty-three countries and just over five hundred-million people. North America is roughly seventeen percent of the world's land mass and is the third largest continent in area. There are great number of sheets below to help students better understand the continent.
- Book Marks
- Maze
- Reading Comprehension Worksheet
- Where Am I? - Using the description, tell what part of North America you are in.
- Word Scramble
- Word Search
- Writing Paper
North American Maps
- Completed Map of North America
- Incomplete Map of North America
- Map Of The United States
- Maps Of All States
North American Writing Paper
Related Teacher Resources
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- Colonial America Teaching Theme
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- Using A Map Teaching Theme
What Is North America?
After Asia and Africa, North America is the largest continent in the world. Several small islands and countries like Canada, Mexico, and the United States make up the continent of North America.
How Many Countries Are in North America?
As of 2022, there are 23 sovereign states and more than two dozen non-sovereign countries in North America. Some of the countries of North America are Canada, the USA, and Mexico. The islands associated with North America include Cuba, Newfoundland and Miami Beach.
Geography
North America has 5 major regions:
- The Canadian Shield
- The Marginal Mountains
- Great Plains
- The Eastern Region
- The Caribbean
The Canadian Shield
The Canadian Shield is an exposed area of metamorphic rocks at least a billion years old. The Shield makes up almost 50% of Canada. It is named Canadian Shield because its shape represents a shield in hand-to-hand combat. The shield was made by plate tectonics and divided into 7 distinct regions called provinces.
It is an important source of minerals and metals, such as gold, silver, copper, etc. It also contains thousands of lakes and several coniferous forests. Several cities lie in the Canadian Shield including Quebec City, Ottawa, and Montreal.
The Marginal Mountains
Most of the mountains in North America cover the western areas of the continent. The Appalachian Mountains run from Canada to the United States. They are the oldest mountains in the region and were formed by volcanic activities.
The Cordillera mountain range consists of the famous Rocky Mountains. They stretch from Western Canada and the Western United States to Mexico. Some of their distinct features include valleys, coastal islands, and grasslands.
The Cascade Range is another major mountain range in North America. It extends from southern British Columbia to Northern California. It is known for tall volcanoes and evergreen forests, and it has some of the most beautiful mountains in the United States.
Great Plains
The Great Plains covers large parts of Colorado, Texas, Kansas, and Oklahoma. They are important for the production of crops and livestock and consist of mountains, hills, valleys, and grasslands. This region is rich in minerals and oils.
Winters in The Great Plains are extremely cold and summers are warm. However, climate changes have made the temperatures high in the area. The tall grass and blue, clear skies make it a very beautiful site for tourists.
The Eastern Region
The Eastern Region covers the eastern coast of North America and include the Appalachian Mountains. Wetlands make up most of the part of eastern region. The Atlantic coastal plains feature river valleys, marshes and wetlands. Everglades, in Florida, the largest wetlands in the United States, is known for its extraordinary and striking wildlife, such as alligators and herons.
The Caribbean
The three regions of The Caribbean are the Bahamas, the Lesser Antilles, and the Great Antilles. It has a diverse topography which includes tropical forests, waterfalls, coral reefs, islands, and significant mountain ranges. The Pitons, The Great Blue Hole, and Dunn’s River Falls are some of the major tourist attraction sites of the Caribbean region.
People of North America
North America is called as the "New World" since it was relatively empty of people until 1500 CE. After that, the region attracted people from the Old World and is now home to people of Canada, the United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Greenland. The native people of North America were the Indigenous people also known as Indigenous Americans or the American Indians. They came from northeast Asia.
Nowadays, most of the population of North America has European and African roots, since a lot of people were brought as slaves from Africa.
The Olmec and Maya settled in parts of Central America and Mexico around 1800 B.C. The Olmec are famous for the huge colossal heads that they sculpted from basalt boulders. Olmec and Maya built the first cities in North America.
The main language spoken in North America is English. French is popular in Canada while Spanish is majorly spoken in Mexico.
Christianity, Protestantism, and Catholicism are the major religions prevailing on the continent.
Tourist Attractions in North America
- The Great Smoky Mountains: It is a mountain range in North Carolina and is known for diverse species of plants and animals and beautiful mountains. The best time to visit them is in the summer season.
- The Glacier Park: It is a national park in Montana. It has beautiful glacier-covered mountains and clear lakes. The major attraction is the aurora borealis, which can be seen any time of the year.
- Yosemite National Park: It has giant sequoia trees and the tallest waterfall in North America. With its clear streams, cliffs, and a vast diversity of animals and plants, Yosemite is regarded as one of the most beautiful places on Earth.
Animals of North America
- Jaguar: They are the largest cats in the world after lions and tigers. They have a yellowish fur with solid black spots of the head and neck and larger spots on the rest of the body. They live a solitary life on ground, and may climb trees as well to get to their prey. It is also a good swimmer. There are more than 60,000 jaguars in North America.
- Canadian Wild Goose: They have a black head and neck and a brown body. They have an instinct to get really aggressive while protecting their nests and young ones. They can survive in multiple habitats, but prefer to live in lakes, ponds, or lawns.
- Beavers: They inhabit the forest regions in Canada. They have a rough fur that is grey-brown in color. They have long incisors and webbed rear feet. They like to construct dams in slow streams with sticks and logs to give them deep water protection from predators.
The continent of North America is home to vast biological species and deposits of natural resources like oil and natural gas. Along with the economic benefits, it has some of the most beautiful geographical features in the world, including mountain ranges, forests and deserts.