Skip to content
Start My 3 Free Days $0 today · cancel anytime

Earth Science Resources

110 Earth Science resources: 95 worksheets, 10 activities, 7 assessments and more. How teachers use these

Earth Science Resources

110 Earth Science resources: 95 worksheets, 10 activities, 7 assessments and more. How teachers use these

Worksheet
WorksheetKindergartenWeather Names Worksheet

This Weather Names Worksheet gives kindergarten kids nine weather pictures to label using a simple word bank. A complete answer key is included — an easy, no-prep way to build science vocabulary and early writing skills.

Worksheet
Worksheet2nd GradeReduce, Reuse, Recycle Sorting Worksheet

A second grade Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Sorting Worksheet where students sort nine everyday items into the correct earth-friendly bin. Answer key included — a quick, no-prep Earth Day activity for home or classroom.

Video
VideoPreschoolSeasons Song

The Seasons Song by Have Fun Teaching is perfect for teaching and learning all about the seasons of the year. This is a fun way for kids to learn the seasons. With this seasons song, your kids can learn about Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. While listening to the Seasons…

Worksheet
Worksheet2nd GradePrintable Thermometer

This Printable Thermometer shows Fahrenheit and Celsius scales side by side, giving 2nd grade students an easy classroom tool for tracking temperature and weather. Print, mark, and reuse all year long.

Worksheet
Worksheet4th GradeLayers of the Earth Definition Worksheet

A layers of the Earth definition worksheet for 4th grade where students match each layer to its description and label a cross-section diagram. Answer key included for quick, no-prep earth science practice.

Worksheet
Worksheet2nd GradeWeather Fill in the Blank Worksheet

This Weather Fill in the Blank Worksheet lets 2nd graders complete eight weather sentences using a word bank of terms like thunder, sleet, and downpour. Includes an answer key for quick, no-prep science vocabulary practice.

Worksheet
Worksheet2nd GradeWeather Words Worksheet

This Weather Words Worksheet helps 2nd graders sort sixteen weather terms into precipitation, storms, sky conditions, and temperature. Answer key included — a quick, no-prep way to grow earth science vocabulary.

Worksheet
Worksheet4th GradeBiomes Worksheet

This Biomes Worksheet helps 4th grade students match major biomes to their climates and identify each one from real-world clues. Includes an answer key for fast, no-prep science practice at home or school.

Worksheet
Worksheet2nd GradeNatural Disasters Fill in the Blanks Worksheet

This Natural Disasters Fill in the Blanks Worksheet has 2nd graders match blizzards, droughts, earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornadoes to picture-clue sentences. Answer key included — perfect for no-prep extreme weather vocabulary practice.

Worksheet
Worksheet4th GradeSolar System Diagram Worksheet

This solar system diagram worksheet has 4th graders label all eight planets in order from the Sun, then answer four questions about the diagram. An answer key is included, so review takes only minutes.

Worksheet
Worksheet2nd GradeReduce, Reuse, Recycle Worksheet

This Reduce, Reuse, Recycle worksheet helps 2nd grade students learn the three Rs by matching each word to its meaning and sorting Earth Day scenarios. Answer key included for quick, no-prep practice.

Worksheet
Worksheet4th GradeWater Cycle Worksheet

This Water Cycle Worksheet helps 4th graders label the stages of the water cycle, match science terms to clues, and explain the process in their own words. Includes an answer key — a no-prep way to reinforce earth science vocabulary.

Worksheet
Worksheet4th GradeRocks & Minerals Worksheet

This Rocks & Minerals Worksheet gives 4th graders a real property table of talc, calcite, hematite, pyrite, and quartz to read and reason from. Answer key included, so mineral identification practice takes no prep at all.

Worksheet
WorksheetKindergartenRecycle Worksheet

This recycle worksheet asks kindergarten students to circle each object that belongs in the recycling bin. Nine familiar pictures, no reading required, and an answer key is included so checking takes seconds.

Worksheet
Worksheet4th GradeFossils Fill in the Blank Worksheet

This Fossils Fill in the Blank Worksheet gives 4th grade students hands-on earth science practice with fossilization, sedimentary rock, and key vocabulary. Answer key included to make review quick and easy.

Worksheet
Worksheet4th GradeWeathering Worksheet

A weathering worksheet that helps 4th graders sort mechanical and chemical weathering, master key earth science vocabulary, and explain their thinking. Answer key included for fast, no-prep review.

Worksheet
Worksheet4th GradeOur Natural Resources Worksheet

Our Natural Resources Worksheet asks 4th graders to sort eight resources into renewable and nonrenewable columns, then explain the difference in writing. Answer key included — easy no-prep Earth Science practice.

Flash Cards
Flash CardsKindergartenWeather Word Wall

This Weather Word Wall gives Kindergarten classrooms six big picture cards — sun, cloud, rain, snow, wind and rainbow — ready to print, cut and post so young writers always have the weather words within reach.

Video
VideoPreschoolCreation Song

While watching the Creation Song, students learn about the days of Creation perfect for Sunday school, kid's church, and Bible lessons for kids. Bring joy and understanding into your kid's church, Sunday school, and classroom with this song about the days of Creation. Your kids will love a new way…

Worksheet
Worksheet3rd GradeSoil Matching Worksheet

This Soil Matching Worksheet gives 3rd Grade students hands-on practice matching soil words to their meanings and labeling the four soil layers. An answer key is included, so checking work takes seconds.

From our teachers' playbook

Rocks, rain, and a planet that never sits still

What do kids learn in earth science?

Earth science is the study of our planet: what it's made of, what changes it, and its place in space. Young kids observe weather, seasons, day and night, and sort rocks by color and texture. By 3rd through 5th grade they're tracing the water cycle, learning how weathering and erosion carve the land, exploring fossils and soil, and naming the layers of the Earth from crust to inner core. They also learn why we have seasons: Earth's tilt, not its distance from the sun. The click is when kids realize the ground under their sneakers is still changing, just very, very slowly.

Our favorite ways to teach earth science

Earth science is everywhere outside your classroom door. These moves bring it inside and make it stick.

Be a rock detective

Hand each table a few rocks and a magnifying glass. Kids describe color, texture and shiny spots, then sort them their own way and explain their rule. Observing real rocks before reading about them gives the vocabulary something to hold on to.

Why it works: kids understand an idea best when they touch it, then draw it, then write it, the order the U.S. Department of Education recommends for elementary math.

Rock Observation WorksheetTry it withRock Observation WorksheetWorksheetsOpen it →

Draw the cycle

Have kids draw the water cycle as a big circle with arrows: evaporation, condensation, precipitation, collection. Then cover one label and ask what's missing. A labeled diagram they made themselves is easier to remember than a paragraph.

Why it works: children learn more from words and pictures together than from words alone (Mayer, 2009).

Water Cycle WorksheetTry it withWater Cycle WorksheetWorksheetsOpen it →

Sing the seasons

A catchy song makes the order of the seasons, and the reason for them, easy to recall. Play it at the start of the unit and again before the quiz. Kids will be humming it at lunch, and that's the point.

Why it works: words set to a repeating melody are easier to recall than the same words spoken (Wallace, 1994).

Seasons SongTry it withSeasons SongSongsOpen it →

Earth science: your questions

What topics are in elementary earth science?

The big ones are weather and seasons, the water cycle, rocks and minerals, soil, fossils, weathering and erosion, natural resources, and the solar system. Younger grades focus on observing and describing, while older grades explain how and why things change.

What's the difference between weathering and erosion?

Weathering breaks rock into smaller pieces. Erosion carries those pieces away to a new place, usually by water, wind or ice. A simple way to remember it: weathering breaks, erosion takes.

How do I explain why we have seasons?

The Earth is tilted. As it travels around the sun, the half tipped toward the sun gets more direct sunlight and longer days, so it has summer. A flashlight and a tilted ball show this in a minute.

What are the layers of the Earth for kids?

From the outside in: the crust, which we live on, the mantle, the outer core, which is liquid, and the inner core, which is solid. Comparing them to a peach or an egg makes it easy to picture.

How can I teach earth science at home?

Start a rock collection, keep a weekly weather chart, or watch a puddle disappear over a sunny afternoon. Ask your child to explain what they see. Talking it through builds the science vocabulary.

Keep exploring