World Capitals Wheel
This wheel picks a random world capital, which turns capital-city revision from a list to memorise into a game with a bit of suspense in it.
Twenty capitals to start with, chosen to span continents rather than cluster in Europe.
Capitals are the part of geography most reliably taught as a list to memorise, which is also the least effective way to learn them. Turning the list into a draw changes the dynamic: the class does not know which one is coming, so everybody is thinking rather than counting ahead to their turn.
The set includes several that catch people out. Brasília rather than Rio, Canberra rather than Sydney, Ottawa rather than Toronto — the pattern of the famous city not being the capital comes up often enough to be worth teaching directly.
Reverse it for a harder round: spin a capital and the class names the country. Add your own capitals to match the region you are covering, and turn on remove-after-spin if you are assigning one per student.
World Capitals Wheel — questions
Why are Brasília and Canberra on the list?
Because they are the ones students get wrong. The largest or most famous city is often not the capital, and Brazil, Australia and Canada are the clearest examples of that pattern.
Can I add more capitals?
Yes. There are around 195 to draw from — paste in as many as your lesson needs and the wheel will use all of them.
Can I run it as a reverse quiz?
Yes. Spin a capital and have the class name the country, which is noticeably harder than going the other way and works well as a second round.