Water Cycle Worksheets (7 free printables)
Have fun learning about the rain with our free water cycle worksheets. These are a great way to learn about the water cycle with kids in grades 1-3.
When you have finished with the life cycle worksheets, we have also included a water cycle game to end the lesson.
Younger kids will enjoy our preschool weather worksheets to use with this unit study too.
These free printable science worksheets are perfect for both schools and homeschooling, and even better it is a no-preparation download.
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Let’s learn about the water cycle
Supplies needed:
- cardstock (normal paper will work, but you might be able to see the images through it)
- paper cutter or scissors
- coloring pens and writing pens or pencils
- glue
- laminator (optional)
Directions:
Download the water cycle worksheets below. There are 7 pages included and they will print out in landscape. Make sure to check the printer settings.
The first page is all about the water cycle. This will print on 3 pages. The first page can be used as a poster, or just to add to the child’s folder.
The second page is exactly the same but will print in black and white so the children can color it in.
The third and fourth page is the same as 1 and 2 but without the descriptions. One is black and white and can be colored and the second is in color.
The water cycle coloring page is a great way for younger students to see the water cycle as they color it in.
The next worksheet the children will need to add the words to the water cycle, the missing words are: precipitation, evaporation, transpiration, run off, accumulation, and infiltration.
The next worksheet needs to be cut out and the children will have to add all of the elements of the water cycle with no prompts.
This is much harder than the previous worksheets, and a great activity to do at the end to see if the children have understood the process.
Water Cycle Worksheet Answers
Match the description of the water cycle to the name.
Infiltration: The process of water entry into the soil.
Precipitation: Water that falls from the earth’s atmosphere to the earth’s surface.
Evaporation: The process that changes liquid water to water vapor.
Condensation: The process where water vapor in the air is changed to liquid.
Accumulation: The collection of water into lakes, rivers, and oceans.
Runoff: Water flows over the earth as surface water rather than absorbed into the earth or vapor.
Transpiration: When plants take up water from the soil and release water vapor into the air from their leaves.
Water Cycle Game
Learning shouldn’t be boring, when all the worksheets have been completed have a bit of fun with this water cycle matching game. Perfect for kids of all ages, and can be played with only 1 player if required.
The final worksheet is a fun water cycle matching game that the children can play after they have done their work.
You will need to print the pages twice, so you can match the images.
We like to decorate the back of the images. So cut around the border at the edge so you are just left with the 12 images. Then just grab your coloring pens (these are the ones we love and use all the time) and have fun.
When you have printed the 2 pages you will need to cut out all of the different images. I prefer to use a paper cutter as it’s easier, quicker, and more accurate, but scissors will work too.
Now you will have two sets of 12 images.
Shuffle them up and lay them on the table randomly on the table.
If you are placing them in rows I find 4 rows with 6 images each works best.
Playing the game is simple. The children can either play on their own and turn over 2 images at a time. Or you can take it in turns to find a pair of images. If it is a match you can either remove them from the game and place them in front of you or leave them turned over face up.
The winner is the person who creates the most matches.
Books about water for kids
We always love adding books to all of our worksheets and these are the best water cycle books we could find that supplement these free worksheets really well.
- Water cycles is an absolutely excellent book. Not only does it talk in detail about the water cycle but also has information about some of the most popular animals that live in the water.
- The Great Big Water Cycle Adventure is a beautifully illustrated picture book.
- National Geographic book on Water is an easy-to-read book helping children understand the water cycle.
Weather science labs is another great addition to these free worksheets with 20 experiments and projects to do all relating to the weather.
Other free life cycle worksheets
- Rock cycle worksheets
- Life cycle of a goose worksheet
- Life cycle of a bee worksheets
- Life cycle of a frog worksheets
- Polar bear life cycle worksheets
- Life cycle of a butterfly worksheets
- Life cycle of a hedgehog worksheets
- The life cycle of a penguin worksheets
- Life cycle of a reindeer worksheets
- Life cycle of a plant worksheet
Download your free water cycle printables
If you are running short on time you can download ALL of our 19 life cycles for a small fee here. There are 165 pages over 19 different life cycles, including this one.
Make sure you choose the correct paper size and click on the shrink to fit button. All of our free printables for kids work better when printed on cardstock (this is the one we use and love.)
Last Updated on 5 June 2023 by homeschoolof1