Life Cycle Worksheets

This free life cycle worksheet generator runs in your web browser. There is no sign-up, and nothing you make is uploaded or sent to a server. It builds printable worksheets about how living things grow and change, with four topics in the Worksheet menu: frog, chicken, butterfly and plant. The page opens on the frog life cycle worksheet, which covers eggs, tadpole, froglet and adult frog.

You tick the activities you want, such as putting the stages in order, filling in the blanks or matching vocabulary. The printable pages on the right update as you choose. The tool works for an animal life cycle worksheet, a life cycle of a chicken worksheet or a life cycle of a hen worksheet, and it can make an answer key as well.

How to make a life cycle worksheet

1. Open the Worksheet menu and choose frog, chicken, butterfly or plant.
2. Tick the activities you want on the left. Put the stages in order, Fill in the blanks and Vocabulary matching are on by default. You can also tick Label the diagram, Labeled picture to color, Short answer questions or Draw and label. Only the activities that suit the topic are offered.
3. Set the options: Word bank, Answer key pages, Color pictures, Name and date line, Worksheet title, Items per activity (4, 6, 8, 10 or 12) and Paper size (US Letter or A4).
4. Check the pages on the right. They update live as you change settings.
5. Click Download PDF to save a PDF file, or click Print to open the print dialog with only the worksheet pages.

Turn off the word bank to make the sheet harder. If each student needs a different version, click New version. It shuffles the word bank, the matching letters and the order. Turn off Color pictures for black line art that children can color and that saves ink. Copy link saves a link that reopens the same worksheet, including the version you chose.

Each life cycle keeps its own word list and pictures, so switching the Worksheet menu changes every activity at once.

What are the stages of a frog life cycle?

A frog goes through four stages: eggs (frogspawn), tadpole, froglet and adult frog. The change from one stage to the next is called metamorphosis, and it happens as the frog grows.

Frogs are amphibians, so part of their life is spent in water and part on land. The eggs are laid in water in jelly-covered clumps called frogspawn. The tadpole that hatches lives in the water and swims with its tail. Its back legs grow first, then its front legs. The froglet has four legs and a short tail, which shrinks and disappears as the froglet becomes an adult frog.

How long does a chicken egg take to hatch?

A chicken egg takes about 21 days to hatch. A hen lays eggs and sits on them to keep them warm, and the embryo grows inside, fed by the yolk.

When the chick is ready to hatch, it breaks the shell with a small bump on its beak, called the egg tooth. A new chick is covered in soft down, and real feathers come later. The chicken life cycle runs egg, embryo, chick and adult chicken. A grown female is a hen, and a male is a rooster.

How do tadpoles breathe?

Tadpoles breathe with gills. They use their tail to swim through the water. As the tadpole changes into a frog, it develops lungs for breathing air.

Adult frogs breathe with their lungs, and they also take in oxygen through their skin. This is one reason frogs need damp places to live.

How is a frog life cycle different from a chicken life cycle?

A frog goes through metamorphosis: the tadpole that hatches looks nothing like its parents, lives in water and breathes with gills, then changes into a four-legged, air-breathing frog. A chick does its growing inside the egg as an embryo and hatches already looking like a small chicken; it simply grows bigger and swaps its fluffy down for feathers. Comparing the two sheets side by side is a good way to teach what metamorphosis means.

Frequently asked questions

Which life cycles can I print?

You can print four worksheets: butterfly, plant, frog and chicken. Choose one from the Worksheet menu, tick your activities, then click Print or Download PDF.

Is there an answer key?

Yes. Turn on Answer key pages, and the key appears as extra pages with the answers filled in. The answers are shown in blue, so they are easy to spot.

Can I download animal life cycle worksheets as a PDF?

Yes. Click Download PDF to build a real vector PDF file in your browser. The file is sharp and prints at true size. The frog and chicken worksheets are both animal life cycle worksheets.

Can I make a different version for each student?

Yes. Click New version to shuffle the word bank, the matching letters and the order. The version is kept in the link, so anyone who opens that link gets the same sheet.

Can I make a cut and paste frog life cycle worksheet?

Yes. Keep Put the stages in order ticked and choose Cut and paste. The page shows an empty cycle of four boxes with arrows and a strip of four pictures (eggs, tadpole, froglet, adult frog) to cut out and glue in order. Choose Number the stages instead if you do not want scissors in class.

What is the difference between a hen and a rooster?

A hen is a grown-up female chicken and a rooster is a grown-up male chicken. Only hens lay eggs. Both words are in the chicken vocabulary list, along with chick, embryo, yolk, shell, hatch, down and comb.

Related tools

• Butterfly life cycle worksheet: use it when you are teaching metamorphosis with an insect instead of an amphibian.
• Plant life cycle worksheet: use it for seeds, roots and flowers.
• Food chain worksheet: use it to show how energy moves between living things.
• Water cycle worksheet: use it to practice how water moves through evaporation, condensation and precipitation.
• Cell labeling worksheet: use it to label the parts of a cell.
• Science worksheet generator: use it to make worksheets on other science topics.