California Missions
Place California's 21 missions on the coast map and put them in order.
California Missions is a map and timeline game about the 21 Spanish missions of Alta California, which stretch along the coast from San Diego in the south to Sonoma in the north. The child sees a mission marked on a coast map and names it, or compares two missions to decide which one is farther north or south.
Later levels ask which county a mission is in, which mission was founded first or last, and how the missions line up along the Pacific coast. The game sticks to geography and dates, and it notes that the missions were built on lands where California Native peoples had lived for thousands of years.
What children practice
- Name a mission from its spot on the coast map
- Tell which of two missions is farther north or south
- Match missions to the county they are in
- Compare founding years to decide which mission is older
- Find the first and last of the 21 missions founded
- See how the missions follow the Pacific coast
Levels
- Level 1: North or south
- Level 2: Which mission?
- Level 3: Which county?
- Level 4: First and last
- Level 5: Along the coast
- Level 6: Mixed review
How it works
- Level 1 compares two lettered missions on a coast map, and level 2 asks which mission is marked.
- Zoomed maps open up where missions crowd together, so each dot can be seen clearly.
- Level 4 adds founding years, and level 5 looks at how the missions line up along the coast.
- A wrong answer can be retried, and the speaker button reads each question aloud.
Best for: A good fit for grades 4 to 6 when a class is studying California history and a child needs help picturing where the missions were.
Tip for parents: The game covers places and dates only, so a visit to a mission or a library book is a good way to talk about the people who lived on this land before and during the mission years.
Questions parents ask
Does the game teach the history of the missions?
It focuses on geography and dates: where each mission is, which county it is in, and when it was founded. It does not tell the full story of life at the missions, so families may want to add a book or a visit.
Which missions are included?
All 21, from Mission San Diego de Alcala, founded in 1769, to Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma, founded in 1823. They appear on a map of the California coast as lettered markers and small dots.
Why do some missions never get a county question?
A mission is only asked about by county when it sits well inside the county's outline. Missions near a county line or the shore are skipped for that kind of question, so each answer is clearly right.
Ready to try it?
California Missions is free with a parent account. A parent adds a child profile, and the child's progress is saved.