🌍 Science & Nature

The Water Cycle

Ages 9–11

You will learn

Describe the four main stages of the water cycle and explain what drives it.

Before you start

Knowing that water can be a solid (ice), a liquid and a gas (water vapor).

Quick answer

The water cycle is the way water moves around Earth. The sun heats water so it evaporates into water vapor, the vapor cools and condenses into clouds, water falls as precipitation such as rain or snow, and it collects in rivers, lakes, oceans and the ground before the cycle repeats.

Let’s learn

The water cycle is the journey water takes around our planet, again and again. The water you drink today may once have been in a cloud, a river or an ocean!

The four main stages

1. Evaporation ☀️

The Sun heats water in oceans, lakes and puddles. Some of it turns into an invisible gas called water vapor, which rises into the air.

2. Condensation ☁️

High in the sky, the air is cooler. The water vapor cools and turns back into tiny droplets of water. Lots of droplets together make clouds.

3. Precipitation 🌧️

The droplets join together and get heavier. When they are too heavy to float, they fall as rain, snow, sleet or hail.

4. Collection 🌊

The water collects in rivers, lakes, oceans and under the ground. Then the Sun heats it again, and the cycle starts over.

Key words

  • Evaporation: liquid → gas
  • Condensation: gas → liquid
  • Precipitation: water falling from clouds

Check what you know

Choose an answer, then press Check. You can try again if you need to.

  1. 1 What happens during evaporation?
  2. 2 Clouds form during which stage?
  3. 3 Rain, snow, sleet and hail are all kinds of…
  4. 4 What gives the water cycle its energy?

Try this next

See condensation for yourself: breathe gently on a cold mirror or window. The water vapor in your breath cools and turns into tiny droplets.