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Animal Structures and Senses Worksheets

12 free PDFsUS Letter PDFsAnswer key includedNo login

Internal and external structures and their jobs, labeled fish, bird and eye diagrams, how senses send information to the brain, and plant structures.

Download the animal structures and senses worksheets

Structures and functions

A poster, an internal or external sort and matching with a cut and paste twin.

Labeled diagrams

Parts of a fish, a bird to label, and the eye labeled and to label.

Senses and the brain

The order of sense, think and respond, and a reading passage about animal senses.

  • Preview of the printable “Senses and the Brain: put the steps in order” worksheet: sequencing how the senses send information to the brain and the body respondsView all 2 pages

    Senses and the Brain: put the steps in order

    Sequencing how the senses send information to the brain and the body responds

    Answer key on page 2

    US LetterPDFA4PDF

    2 pages139 KB

  • Preview of the printable “Animal senses reading passage for 4th grade” worksheet: explaining how animals receive and use information from their sensesView all 2 pages

    Animal senses reading passage for 4th grade

    Explaining how animals receive and use information from their senses

    Answer key on page 2

    US LetterPDFA4PDF

    2 pages60 KB

Plants and review

Plant structures and a quiz.

Print at 100% (actual size) for the cleanest tracing lines.

About these animal structures and senses worksheets

Every part of an animal's body is a structure with a job. A turtle's shell protects it, a fish's gills take oxygen from water, and an owl's large eyes help it see at night. Some structures are on the outside (external) and some are inside (internal), like the heart and lungs.

These animal structures worksheets start with a poster and an inside-or-outside sort, then match structures to functions (with a cut and paste twin). Labeled diagrams show the parts of a fish, a bird and the eye. Children order how a sense sends a message to the brain, read about animals with super senses and match plant structures to their jobs.

Every page is black and white, prints on US Letter or A4, and every page with right answers has an answer key on page 2.

Standards

  • NGSS 4-LS1-1Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
  • NGSS 4-LS1-2Use a model to describe that animals receive different types of information through their senses, process the information in their brain, and respond to the information in different ways.

How to use them

  1. Start with the poster. Ask: what would happen to a turtle without its shell?
  2. Use the matching page or its cut and paste twin, then label the bird together.
  3. Before the eye pages, look at a partner's pupils in bright light and dim light.
  4. Act out the sense, think, respond steps: drop a book and watch who turns around.

Teaching tips

  • Structure means a body part; function means its job. Ask children to use both words in a sentence.
  • The brain takes in information from the senses, makes sense of it and tells the body how to respond.
  • The pupil gets smaller in bright light and bigger in dim light. The iris controls it.
  • Plants have structures too: roots, stems, leaves, flowers, thorns and bark.

Questions teachers and parents ask

What are internal and external structures?

External structures are on the outside of the body, like fur, claws, beaks and shells. Internal structures are inside, like the heart, lungs, stomach, brain and skeleton.

How do senses help animals survive?

Senses gather information, like a sound, smell or movement. The brain uses it to decide what to do: find food, escape danger or care for young.

What are the parts of the eye?

Light enters through the clear cornea and the pupil, the lens focuses it on the retina at the back, and the optic nerve carries signals to the brain. The colored iris changes the size of the pupil.

Does this page cover animal adaptations?

Structures and adaptations overlap. The 3rd grade adaptations page focuses on habitats and survival; these 4th grade pages focus on what each body part does.