Free printable science worksheets and charts

Water Cycle Worksheet

Pick the activities, and a printable water cycle worksheet with a diagram to label is ready — with an answer key if you want one.

This water cycle worksheet generator makes a printable water cycle worksheet in a few clicks: pick the activities, and the pages are ready to print or save as a PDF. It runs in your web browser with no sign-up, and nothing you create is uploaded or sent to a server.

You can build a water cycle diagram worksheet, a water cycle labeling worksheet, or a mix of activities, then download a printable water cycle worksheet PDF or print it directly. The default sheet has a diagram to label, a fill-in-the-blanks section and vocabulary matching with key water cycle terms. Teachers and parents can also add ordering, sorting, short answer, and draw-and-label activities to create free water cycle worksheets for different class levels.

How to make a water cycle worksheet

  1. Scroll up to the generator at the top of this page.
  2. On the left, tick the activities you want. Label the diagram, Fill in the blanks, and Vocabulary matching are ticked by default.
  3. Choose Word bank on or off. Turning it off makes the sheet harder.
  4. Set Items per activity to 4, 6, 8, 10 or 12.
  5. Choose Paper size: US Letter or A4.
  6. Turn Color pictures on for soft colors, or off for black line art that children can color and that saves ink.
  7. Turn on Name and date line, and edit the Worksheet title if you want a different heading.
  8. Turn on Answer key pages if you need the answers.
  9. Check the pages on the right. They update live as you change options.
  10. Click New version to shuffle the word bank, matching letters and order, so each student or class gets a different version.

When the sheet is ready, click Download PDF to build a vector PDF file that stays sharp and prints at true size. Click Print to open the print dialog with only the worksheet pages. Click Copy link to copy a link that reopens the same worksheet, including your chosen version.

The answer key prints after the worksheet pages.

What are the 4 stages of the water cycle

The four main stages of the water cycle are evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and collection. The sun heats water in oceans, lakes and rivers, and the water evaporates into water vapor, an invisible gas.

High in the sky, the vapor cools and condenses into tiny drops that form clouds. When the drops become heavy, they fall as precipitation, which can be rain, snow, sleet or hail. The water then collects in oceans, lakes, rivers and underground. Runoff flows over the land into streams and rivers, and some water soaks into the soil (infiltration) and becomes groundwater. The cycle has no beginning or end, so the stages can be taught in any order, though the order activity uses evaporation first.

What is the difference between evaporation and transpiration

Evaporation and transpiration both turn liquid water into water vapor, but they come from different sources. Evaporation is the change of water from oceans, lakes, rivers and moist ground into vapor, driven mainly by the sun’s heat.

Transpiration is the release of water vapor from plants, which move water up from the roots and let it out through tiny openings in their leaves. Students can remember it this way: evaporation happens to water in the open, while transpiration happens through living plants.

Why is it called a cycle?

A cycle is something that goes round and round with no beginning and no end. The same water keeps moving between the oceans, the air, the clouds and the land, again and again, powered by the sun’s heat. That is why the order activity draws the four stages in a circle with arrows, and why the worksheet can start the story at any stage.

Students can trace one drop of water all the way round the circle on the diagram before they fill in the labels.

Frequently asked questions

Is there an answer key?

Yes. Turn on Answer key pages to add pages with the answers filled in. The answers appear in blue, so you can keep them separate from the student copies.

Which grade is this worksheet for?

The wording is written for about grades 2 to 5. Kindergarten and grade 1 students can use the labeled picture to color and the cut-and-paste order activity. For older students, switch off the word bank to make the sheet harder.

Can I make a harder version without a word bank?

Yes. Turn Word bank off, and students must write each term from memory or from their notes. Use New version to shuffle the order and matching letters so students cannot copy from a neighbor.

Can I download this as a PDF?

Yes. Click Download PDF to build a vector PDF file in your browser. The file stays sharp and prints at true size on US Letter or A4 paper.

Is the tool free, and is my worksheet stored anywhere?

The tool is free and needs no sign-up. It runs in your browser, and nothing is uploaded or sent to a server.

Can I print a water cycle worksheet with black lines only?

Yes. Turn Color pictures off to get black line art, which children can color themselves and which uses less ink.

What are infiltration and groundwater?

Infiltration is water soaking down through the soil into the ground. The water that collects in the soil and in rocks under the ground is groundwater. Both words are on the diagram and in the vocabulary list, and one fill-in-the-blank sentence asks where water that soaks into the soil ends up.

Can students sort water into the sky and the ground?

Yes. Tick Sort into columns: students sort words such as cloud, rain, snow and water vapor into “Water in the sky” and river, lake, ocean, puddle and pond into “Water on the ground”.