Science Weather & Climateusually ages 7–9

The Water Cycle

Understand the water cycle: the Sun heats water in oceans and lakes causing it to evaporate into water vapour, the vapour rises and cools to form clouds (condensation), and water falls back to Earth as rain, snow, or hail (precipitation) — then the cycle repeats

How to tell they’ve got it

Tick these off as you see them — no test required.

Name the three main stages: evaporation, condensation, precipitation
Explain the Sun's role in driving the water cycle
Describe the water cycle as a continuous loop with no beginning or end

🖨 Print this page to keep the checklist — it prints beautifully.

Try this together

Can your child trace the journey of a raindrop — from the ocean being heated by the Sun, rising as invisible vapour, forming a cloud, and falling back down as rain — and explain it keeps going round and round?

Where this sits on the map

Stuck here? Check the skills it builds on first. Confident? Here’s what it unlocks.

Builds on

Rain & Puddlesages 5–7Full water cycle builds on basic rain/puddle/evaporation concept

Cloud Typesages 7–9Water cycle requires understanding cloud formation (condensation)

Temperature & Thermometersages 5–7Water cycle evaporation relates to temperature (heat drives evaporation)

Heating & Cooling Changesages 7–9Water cycle benefits from curriculum states of matter (heating/cooling changes state)

Where water is found on Earthages 7–8Water cycle benefits from knowing where water is found on Earth

The Water Cyclethis skill · ages 7–9

Unlocks

Sun-Driven Weather Systemsages 9–11Sun as weather engine requires understanding the water cycle it drives

Rainforest Water Cycleages 7–9Understanding the general water cycle helps understand the rainforest-specific water cycle (Weather 7-9 -> Rainforests 7-9)

Evaporation & the Water Cycleages 8–9Water cycle connects to curriculum evaporation/condensation topic

Earth's Frozen Waterages 9–11Water cycle understanding enriches the cryosphere-water system topic (Weather 7-9 -> Polar 9-11)

Extreme Weather Eventsages 9–11Extreme weather involves the water cycle (floods, droughts)

The Water Cycleages 11–12The exploratory weather/climate water cycle topic provides an accessible entry point before the formal KS3 treatment

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

Candidate matches to official curriculum codes — machine-suggested, unreviewed (v0.1).

Show candidate curriculum codes · 2 ACARA · 1 VIC

Australian Curriculum v9 candidate

AC9S4U02high confidenceYear 4 · Science understanding

identify sources of water and describe key processes in the water cycle, including movement of water through the sky, landscape and ocean; precipitation; evaporation; and condensation

AC9S5U02low confidenceYear 5 · Science understanding

describe how weathering, erosion, transportation and deposition cause slow or rapid change to Earth’s surface

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2S4U07medium confidenceScience · Levels 3 and 4 · Science Understanding strand

These are candidate alignments generated by semantic matching — machine-suggested and unreviewed (v0.1), not official or verified mappings. For official curriculum content see australiancurriculum.edu.au, curriculum.nsw.edu.au and f10.vcaa.vic.edu.au. Don’t rely on them for registration or compliance purposes.

Nearby on the map

Cloud Typesages 7–9 Geography & Local Weatherages 7–9 Thunder & Lightningages 7–9 Using Weather Instrumentsages 7–9

All Weather & Climate skills →