How to remember the Great Lakes in order

The Great Lakes from west to east are Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario. Put one on each part of your body from your feet up, and walk up your body to say them in order.

Try it: all five on your body

Five words, one at a time, each on a part of your body: feet, knees, hips, chest, the top of your head. For each, type what the word does to that part, in a few words; the first two come with a scene to start you off. Up to 15 seconds a word. Then look away for 15 seconds, and walk up your body from your feet to get them back.

Where does the order slip?

The middle is where the order slips. Michigan and Huron sit side by side and meet at the Straits of Mackinac, so it is easy to swap them. HOMES gives you the five names, but not their order on a map.

How do you keep it?

Walk up your body again tomorrow and a few days later, and say each item before you look. Recalling something before you look at it again is one of the best-supported ways to learn. If an item doesn’t come back, give it a new scene on the same part of your body.

In a 2022 study, ten parts of the body, typed from feet to head, worked as well as a classical memory palace for recalling a list in order. There’s more in how to memorize a list in order and the body method.

Keep this list with Without Notes

After the free first lesson, paste this list into Without Notes. It puts the items on your places in order, you write each scene, and it checks you at 1, 7 and 30 days, unaided.