5 cycles
The water cycle and the life cycles of a flowering plant, the butterfly (complete metamorphosis), the frog (amphibian) and the chicken (bird).
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Teaching Guide: the Water Cycle and Life Cycles in Primary School
Cycles in nature are a core topic of primary science: understanding that living things and water move in cycles that start again. This free water cycle and life cycle worksheet generator makes A4 worksheets to label and sequence the stages, with our own drawings, a word bank and an answer key.
Label
The cycle drawn with arrows: write each stage under its picture, or each process of the water cycle (evaporation, condensation, precipitation…) next to its number.
Put in order
The stages on shuffled cards to number in order and, from level 2, to name.
Three levels
From the 4 main stages with a word bank and an example in Grades 2-3, to every stage with no help and the scientific terms in Grades 5-6.
Black and white
Line drawings made for colouring in and for printing or photocopying in black and white, with no ink-hungry backgrounds.
Answer key
The same worksheet with the names and numbers in red, to mark at a glance.
Frequently Asked Questions about the Natural Cycles Worksheets
Which water cycle processes does each level show?
Level 1 has the four main ones: evaporation, condensation, precipitation and runoff. Level 2 adds infiltration and transpiration from plants, and level 3 adds snowmelt and groundwater flowing back to the sea.
Which stages does each life cycle have?
The plant: seed, germination, seedling, adult plant, flowering, pollination, fruit and seed dispersal. The butterfly: eggs, caterpillar, chrysalis and butterfly. The frog: frogspawn, tadpole, tadpole with legs, froglet and adult frog. The chicken: egg, embryo, hatching, chick, young chicken and hen. The lower levels show fewer.
Why is number 1 given in the ordering activity?
A cycle has no beginning or end: without a fixed first step, any order that followed the arrows would be right. Starting from the seed, the eggs or evaporation means every answer can be marked the same way.
What vocabulary does level 3 ask for?
The scientific terms: for the butterfly, larva, pupa and adult (the answer key also gives caterpillar, chrysalis and butterfly). For the other cycles, the names of every stage with no word bank.
Can I put several cycles on one worksheet?
Yes. Add as many exercises as you like of each cycle, activity and level. Then drag them, move them with “Up” and “Down” or separate them with a page break. If you ask for more than one of the same cycle, each repeat changes the order of the stages or the landscape.
Is any data sent to a server?
No. The worksheets are made in your browser and templates are saved in your browser's memory.
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