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Land and Water Worksheets for Kindergarten

11 free PDFsUS Letter or A4Answer key includedNo login

Kinds of land and water, a globe to label and color, an island map, a land or water sort and a simple continents and oceans map, with keys.

Download the land and water worksheets

Land and water

Mountains, hills, islands and deserts; oceans, lakes, rivers and ponds. A poster, a sort, a cut and paste page, an island map to label and a drawing page.

Globes and maps

A globe is a model of Earth. Label land and water on a globe, color it, tell a globe from a map, and graph a globe toss.

Next steps: continents and oceans

For children who are ready for more: a simple world map with the 7 continents and 5 oceans, and a page to label them.

  • Preview of the printable “Continents and oceans map (Next Steps)” worksheet: naming the 7 continents and 5 oceans on a simple world map (a next step after land and water)View larger

    Continents and oceans map (Next Steps)

    Naming the 7 continents and 5 oceans on a simple world map (a next step after land and water)

    US LetterPDFA4PDF

    1 page67 KB

  • Preview of the printable “Label the continents and oceans (Next Steps)” worksheet: labeling the 7 continents and 5 oceans on a simple world map (a next step after land and water)View all 2 pages

    Label the continents and oceans (Next Steps)

    Labeling the 7 continents and 5 oceans on a simple world map (a next step after land and water)

    Answer key on page 2

    US LetterPDFA4PDF

    2 pages92 KB

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

About these land and water worksheets

Earth is covered with land and water, and kindergarten is a great time to name them. Land can be a mountain, a hill, an island or a desert. Water can be an ocean, a lake, a river or a pond. These land and water worksheets give children clear pictures to talk about, sort and label.

A globe is a model of Earth, so the globe pages come next. Children label land and water on a globe, color it the way most globes and maps do, and learn how a globe and a map are different. The globe toss graph lets them find out for themselves that Earth has much more water than land.

For children who are ready for more, two next steps pages show the 7 continents and 5 oceans on a simple world map. They are an introduction, not a test: point, say the names, and come back to them later in the year. Every page with one right answer has an answer key on page 2.

Standards

  • C3 D2.Geo.2.K-2Use maps, graphs, photographs, and other representations to describe places and the relationships and interactions that shape them.
  • C3 D2.Geo.3.K-2Use maps, globes, and other simple geographic models to identify cultural and environmental characteristics of places.
  • C3 D2.Geo.6.K-2Identify some cultural and environmental characteristics of specific places.
  • C3 D2.Geo.1.K-2Construct maps, graphs, and other representations of familiar places.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.K.5.ASort common objects into categories (e.g., shapes, foods) to gain a sense of the concepts the categories represent.
  • CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.MD.B.3Classify objects into given categories; count the numbers of objects in each category and sort the categories by count.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.K.2Confirm understanding of a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media by asking and answering questions about key details and requesting clarification if something is not understood.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.K.2Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic.

How to use them

  1. Start with the land and water poster. Read each word and short line, and ask children where they have seen each one.
  2. Use the sort page as a quick check, or the cut and paste version as a center activity.
  3. Bring in a real globe or a blow-up beach-ball globe for the globe pages and the globe toss graph.
  4. Read the island map story aloud first, then let children find each place on the map before they label it.
  5. Save the continents and oceans pages for children who already know land and water, or use the map as a poster in your map center.

Teaching tips

  • Point out land and water close to home: a creek, a pond in a park, a hill on the way to school.
  • A lake has land all around it. An island is the opposite: land with water all around it.
  • Most maps and globes show water in blue and land in green, brown or other colors. Ask children which color they would use for the ocean.
  • On the world map, the dashed line shows where Europe ends and Asia begins. They are one big piece of land.
  • Pre-readers work from the pictures. The words under each picture are for the adult to read aloud.
  • Every cut and paste page has a matching page with no cutting, for days without scissors.

Questions teachers and parents ask

What are land and water forms for kindergarten?

Good ones to start with are mountain, hill, island and desert for land, and ocean, lake, river and pond for water. Children learn to name each one from a picture and to say whether it is land or water.

Should kindergarteners learn the continents and oceans?

Many kindergarten classes are introduced to the 7 continents and 5 oceans, but they are not expected to master them. That is why the continents and oceans pages here are marked next steps. Start with land and water, then point to the continents on the map and say their names together.

What is the difference between a globe and a map?

A globe is a round model of the whole Earth that you can spin. A map is flat. It can show the whole Earth or just a small place like a town or a room, and you can fold it up and carry it.

Do these land and water worksheets have answer keys?

Yes. The sort, cut and paste, globe, island map, globe or map and continents and oceans label pages all have an answer key on page 2. The poster, the drawing page and the globe toss graph do not need one.