Free sample activity · Grades 6–8

Water Cycle Practice

This middle-school science activity revisits water-cycle vocabulary through everyday observations. Use it after instruction, as a lesson starter, or as independent review. It assumes learners have already encountered the main water-cycle processes.

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6 questions · No account · No timer · Immediate feedback

Before you begin

How to use this activity

Allow about five minutes. Before starting, sketch a body of water, a cloud, land, and the ground beneath it. As each process appears, add a labeled arrow to your diagram. Water can follow many paths rather than one fixed sequence.

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Try a knowledge check 6 questions · No account needed

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Choose an answer, read the explanation, then move to the next question. Your answers stay in this page and are not saved.

Evaporation

A puddle becomes smaller on a sunny day even though no water flows away. Which process explains the change?

Condensation Precipitation Evaporation
Answer: C.

During evaporation, liquid water changes to water vapor and enters the air. Energy transferred from the surroundings, including sunlight warming the surface, supports this change.

Condensation

Tiny droplets form on the outside of a cold glass. Where did that water come from?

Water vapor in the surrounding air Liquid leaking through the glass Ice moving through the glass
Answer: A.

Water vapor in the air cools near the glass and condenses into liquid droplets on its outside. The water did not pass through the glass.

Precipitation

Which example is precipitation?

Water soaking into soil Snow falling from a cloud Water vapor leaving a leaf
Answer: B.

Precipitation is water falling from clouds to the surface, including rain, snow, sleet, and hail. Water soaking into soil is infiltration; water vapor released by plants is transpiration.

Runoff

After a storm, water flows over a paved playground into a nearby stream. What is this movement called?

Runoff Condensation Transpiration
Answer: A.

Runoff is water moving across the land surface. Paved surfaces limit infiltration, so more water can flow over the surface toward streams or drains.

Infiltration

Rain soaks into soil and moves downward. Which statement is accurate?

All of it immediately becomes ocean water. It must evaporate before entering the soil. Some may reach groundwater stored in pores and cracks.
Answer: C.

Infiltration is water entering the ground. Some water remains in the soil, some is taken up by plants, and some moves deeper to replenish groundwater in pores and cracks.

Energy and motion

Which pair helps drive the water cycle?

Moonlight and sound Energy from the Sun and gravity Magnetism and friction alone
Answer: B.

Solar energy supports evaporation and other processes. Gravity pulls precipitation downward and helps move water over the surface and through the ground.

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Keep the reasoning

All questions, answers & explanations

Use this review before or after practice. You can read and print it without JavaScript.

  1. Evaporation

    A puddle becomes smaller on a sunny day even though no water flows away. Which process explains the change?

    Answer: Evaporation

    During evaporation, liquid water changes to water vapor and enters the air. Energy transferred from the surroundings, including sunlight warming the surface, supports this change.

  2. Condensation

    Tiny droplets form on the outside of a cold glass. Where did that water come from?

    Answer: Water vapor in the surrounding air

    Water vapor in the air cools near the glass and condenses into liquid droplets on its outside. The water did not pass through the glass.

  3. Precipitation

    Which example is precipitation?

    Answer: Snow falling from a cloud

    Precipitation is water falling from clouds to the surface, including rain, snow, sleet, and hail. Water soaking into soil is infiltration; water vapor released by plants is transpiration.

  4. Runoff

    After a storm, water flows over a paved playground into a nearby stream. What is this movement called?

    Answer: Runoff

    Runoff is water moving across the land surface. Paved surfaces limit infiltration, so more water can flow over the surface toward streams or drains.

  5. Infiltration

    Rain soaks into soil and moves downward. Which statement is accurate?

    Answer: Some may reach groundwater stored in pores and cracks.

    Infiltration is water entering the ground. Some water remains in the soil, some is taken up by plants, and some moves deeper to replenish groundwater in pores and cracks.

  6. Energy and motion

    Which pair helps drive the water cycle?

    Answer: Energy from the Sun and gravity

    Solar energy supports evaporation and other processes. Gravity pulls precipitation downward and helps move water over the surface and through the ground.

Take it one step further

Draw two different paths a drop of water could take through the cycle. Label the processes and explain where water changes state. Revisit any terms you confused during the activity.

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