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The water cycle

Science · Ages 8–10 · about 25 minutes

What you will learn

Where rain comes from, where puddles go, and why the same water has been circulating on Earth for billions of years. After this guide you will be able to name the four stages of the water cycle and explain each one in your own words.

Key ideas

  1. Evaporation. The sun heats water in oceans, lakes and rivers. Liquid water turns into an invisible gas called water vapour and rises into the air.
  2. Condensation. High in the sky the air is cold. The vapour cools down and turns into tiny water droplets that gather around dust particles — that is what clouds are made of.
  3. Precipitation. When droplets join together and grow heavy, they fall back to Earth as rain, snow, sleet or hail.
  4. Collection. The water gathers in oceans, lakes, rivers and underground. From there the sun heats it again, and the cycle starts over.

The water cycle has no beginning and no end: it is a loop powered by the energy of the sun. The water you drank today may once have been in a dinosaur's puddle.

Worksheet

  1. Name the four stages of the water cycle in order.
  2. True or false: clouds are made of water vapour. Explain your answer. (Careful — this one is a trap!)
  3. A puddle disappears on a sunny day without raining. Which stage of the cycle does that show, and where did the puddle go?
  4. Draw the water cycle with the sun, a cloud, the sea and a mountain. Label each arrow with the right stage name.

Review — check yourself

  • Can you explain the whole cycle out loud in under a minute?
  • Do you know what powers the cycle? (The sun's energy.)
  • Can you give one example of collection that is not the sea?

If any answer feels shaky, go back to the key ideas section and re-read just that stage — that is how the learning loop works in the full app.

Words to remember

Evaporation
Liquid water becomes water vapour and rises.
Condensation
Water vapour cools and becomes tiny droplets (clouds).
Precipitation
Water falls from clouds as rain, snow, sleet or hail.
Collection
Water gathers in oceans, lakes, rivers and underground.