The sun’s energy is the driving force behind the water cycle. The sun heats up water on land and in the oceans, lakes, and seas. The water changes from liquid to vapor in a process called evaporation. The water vapor cools and in a process called condensation forms droplets in the atmosphere. These droplets become clouds. The droplets (or ice crystals if it’s cold enough) gather and then fall from the sky in a process called precipitation. This precipitation gathers in streams and rivers and flows and becomes run off, flowing back down to the oceans, seas, and lakes.

/ Find the word below in the grid to the left.


cloud
condensation
energy
evaporation
hail
ice crystal
lake / ocean
precipitation
rain
river
runoff
sea
snow / stream
sun
water cycle
water droplet
water vapor
wind
/ Find the word below in the grid to the left.

Across
3. Ice crystals that fall from the sky.
6. Water that has been heated to a gas.
9. Frozen rain.
10. A large body of water that flows across the land.
12. A large body of salt water.
13. The process of changing from water vapor to water droplets. / Down
1. What provides the energy that drives the water cycle?
2. The process of water droplets or ice crystals falling from the sky.
3. A small body of water that flows across the land.
4. The process of water moving through the world by precipitation, evaporation, and condensation.
5. The process of water turning into a vapor. / 7. These form in the sky when water vapor condenses into water droplets.
8. A large body of fresh water.
10. Water that flows in streams and river into the oceans and lakes.
11. Water droplets that fall from the sky.
Fill in the blanks below with words from this box:
evaporation
evaporates
heating
droplets
runoff
rain / sunny
clouds
heavy
plants
snow
rivers / precipitate
vapor
oceans
hail
cycle
streams / condenses
atmosphere
lakes
glaciers
crystals
Evaporation
On a warm, ______day, water in a glass of water seems to slowly disappear. This is because the energy from the sun is ______the water up and turning the liquid water into water ______. This process is called ______. When the water ______, it becomes an invisible gas in the ______. Evaporation takes places all over the earth, but especially in the ______and ______where there is lots of water.

Condensation

As the water vapor rises, it cools off and ______into water ______. If the water vapor becomes extremely cold, it will form ice ______instead of water droplets. As the water droplets or ice crystals grow bigger and more numerous, they form ______.

Precipitation

If water droplets or ice crystals become too ______, they can’t stay in the air. They ______. Water droplets precipitate as ______and ice crystals precipitate as ______. Sometimes, the rain freezes before it hits the earth and precipitates as ______.
/

Runoff

This precipitation gathers into ______and ______that flow down to the lakes and oceans. This is called ______. Not all of the water makes it back to the oceans and lakes right away. Some of it is used by animals and ______. Some is frozen into ______. Eventually, the animals and plants breathe the water out and the glaciers melt, releasing the water back into the water ______.

We can find water in many places and in many forms. Water can be solid, liquid or a gaseous. Use the three words, solid, liquid, and gaseous, to define all of these other water words. Another way to say ‘solid water’ is ‘frozen water’.

An ice cube

/
Rain
Steam
A snowflake
A river
Frost
Dew
An icicle
Hail
A stream
Vapor
Ice
A glacier
An iceberg
A waterfall

There are bodies of water all over our planet. Describe the different bodies of water using the words small, large, fresh, salt, deep, shallow, protected, still, and flowing. Try to use at least two adjectives per description.

A lake

/
A sea
A river
A pond
A stream
An ocean
A puddle
A bay

A creek

A cove
An inlet
A lagoon
An oasis
A tide pool