Printable ScholarNervous System Diagram
Free printable nervous system diagram — a labeled illustration showing the brain, spinal cord, and major nerves of the peripheral nervous system, color-coded CNS and PNS. Download a high-resolution PDF or PNG for Letter paper.
Part of the Nervous System and Brain teaching pack for grades 4 to 6: 26 lesson slides and 11 printables with answer keys. The diagrams are free.
Teaching ideas for Nervous System and Brain
Pick the ideas that suit your class, then follow the plan or use the sheets in any order.
- Catch the ruler. One student drops a ruler between a partner’s open fingers and the partner tries to catch it. The signal has to go from eyes to brain to hand.
- Pass the squeeze. Stand in a circle holding hands. Pass a squeeze around the circle like a signal moving along a nerve. Each student is one neuron.
- Test your balance. Students stand on one foot, then try it with their eyes closed. The cerebellum is working the whole time to keep them balanced.
- Which part is working?. Call out things like hearing a bell, seeing a picture, feeling something cold or planning a move. Students point to that part on the brain diagram.
A plan for the week
| Day 1 | Open with one of the ideas above. Teach the lesson with the slides while students fill in the guided notes. Then students label the blank diagram. | Lesson slides (PowerPoint) (in the pack) Nervous System and Brain Guided Notes (in the pack) Nervous System Diagram Blank Nervous System |
| Day 2 | Teach the six parts of the brain from the labeled diagram. Students label the blank one. | Parts of the Brain Diagram Blank Parts of the Brain |
| Day 3 | Students work out what is happening on the nervous system picture on “Read the Nervous System Diagram”: the path of a signal from the foot to the brain. Then they do the same for the brain on “Read the Brain Diagram”. | Read the Nervous System Diagram (in the pack) Read the Brain Diagram (in the pack) |
| Day 4 | Read “Your Body’s Control Network” and answer the questions. Then put the steps of “The Path of a Reflex” in order. | Your Body’s Control Network (in the pack) The Path of a Reflex (in the pack) |
| Day 5 | Review with the crossword, then give the quiz. | Nervous System Crossword (in the pack) Nervous System and Brain Quiz (in the pack) |
The sheets marked “in the pack” are in the Nervous System and Brain teaching pack below.
NGSS standards
- Aligned to 4-LS1-2: Use 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.
- Supports 4-LS1-1: Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
- Supports MS-LS1-8: Gather and synthesize information that sensory receptors respond to stimuli by sending messages to the brain for immediate behavior or storage as memories.
Nervous System and Brain teaching pack
Teaching the nervous system and the brain? Here is a ready-to-teach lesson. 26 slides and 11 printables that cover the whole topic, from the guided notes to the quiz. Present the slides while students fill in the guided notes, then use the worksheets, crossword and quiz, with every answer key.
Free on this page: 4 of the 11 printables, marked Download below. The whole pack is $7: 22 pages in one print-ready file, the 26 lesson slides, the practice sheets, the crossword, the quiz and every answer key.
OnlineThe pack also comes as an online lesson for Google Classroom: every part on screen for students, plus a self-grading Google Forms quiz.
One-time purchase. Instant download. Secure checkout by Stripe. Want to see a whole pack first? The Skeletal System pack is free.See all 31 packs in the bundle
- The Microscope
- Photosynthesis
- Parts of a Plant and Flower
- Life Cycle of a Plant
- Life Cycles of a Butterfly and a Frog
- Food Chains and Food Webs
- The Water Cycle
- Human Body Organs
- Skeletal System
- Muscular System
- Digestive System
- Respiratory System
- Heart and Circulation
- Nervous System and Brain (this pack)
- Eye and Ear
- Parts of a Tooth
- Inside the Earth and Volcanoes
- Rocks and the Rock Cycle
- Layers of the Atmosphere
- Types of Clouds
- Weathering, Erosion and Deposition
- Types of Landforms
- The Solar System
- The Seasons
- Moon Phases and Eclipses
- States of Matter
- Electric Circuits
- Forms of Energy
- Scientific Method
- Simple Machines
- Magnets and Magnetic Fields
Teach Nervous System and Brain with 26 ready-made slides
Open the PowerPoint and teach: an opening question, the parts one at a time on the diagram, quick checks and an exit question. Students fill in the guided notes sheet as you go.
Every slide comes with teacher notes: what to say, what to ask, and sample answers.
The slides (PowerPoint and a PDF copy) and the guided notes sheet come with the pack.
What is in the pack, in teaching order
In the pack
1. TeachLesson Slides26 slides to present, with your notes for each one.In the $7 pack
In the pack
1. TeachNervous System and Brain Guided NotesStudents fill in the blanks as you present. With answer key.In the $7 pack
Free
Free
Free
Free
In the pack
3. ReasonRead the Nervous System DiagramRead the nervous system picture: trace the path of a signal from the foot to the brain and work out which nerves and parts do which jobs.In the $7 pack
In the pack
3. ReasonRead the Brain DiagramRead the brain picture: work out which lettered part is at work in everyday jobs and which injury would be most serious.In the $7 pack
In the pack
4. ReadYour Body’s Control NetworkA one-page text on the brain, the spinal cord, nerves and reflexes, with eight questions.In the $7 pack
In the pack
5. OrderThe Path of a ReflexPut the seven steps of a reflex in order, then answer three questions.In the $7 pack
In the pack
6. ReviewNervous System CrosswordFifteen nervous system and brain words with clues and a word bank.In the $7 pack
In the pack
7. CheckNervous System and Brain QuizLabel five parts of the brain, six multiple choice and two written answers. Scored out of 13.In the $7 pack
Nervous System and Brain worksheets, crossword and quiz
The Nervous System and Brain teaching pack is 26 lesson slides (PowerPoint and PDF) and 11 printables with answer keys for grades 4 to 6, in the order you would teach them: the guided notes for the lesson slides, 4 diagram sheets, then “Read the Nervous System Diagram” (a worksheet), “Read the Brain Diagram” (a worksheet), “Your Body’s Control Network” (a reading passage), “The Path of a Reflex” (a sequencing worksheet), a vocabulary crossword and a quiz.
The sheets are in a suggested teaching order: teach the lesson, have students label the blank diagrams, then work through the practice sheets and finish with the quiz. Use them all over a week or pick the ones you need. The answer keys are together at the back.
The diagrams are free to download on this page. The other sheets come with the pack ($7), which is also in the Elementary Science bundle (grades 3 to 6).
The parts of the nervous system
The nervous system is the body's communication and control network, sending signals between the brain and every part of the body at lightning speed. Here is what happens at each labeled part of the diagram:
| Part | What it does | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Brain | The command centre of the nervous system — it receives, processes, and sends all signals. | Everything you think, feel, see, hear, and decide passes through roughly 86 billion neurons packed into an organ that weighs about 1.4 kilograms. Despite using only about 20 percent of the body's energy, the brain never fully switches off — it keeps processing, consolidating memories, and regulating your heartbeat and breathing even while you sleep. |
| Spinal Cord | The main nerve highway running down the centre of the spine, connecting the brain to the rest of the body. | The spinal cord is about the thickness of a finger and runs from the base of the brain to the lower back, protected inside the bony tunnel of the vertebrae. It carries signals from the brain down to the muscles and carries sensory signals — pain, temperature, touch — back up to the brain. Crucially, it also handles reflex responses locally: when you touch a hot pan and snatch your hand back before you consciously feel the pain, that loop happened entirely in the spinal cord. |
| Brachial Plexus | A network of nerves at the shoulder that controls the arm and hand. | Five nerve roots leaving the spinal cord in the neck merge and branch into the brachial plexus, then fan out to become the specific nerves controlling every muscle from the shoulder to the fingertips. Sports injuries that stretch the neck sideways — common in contact sports — can damage this plexus, causing a burning or stinging sensation down the arm that athletes call a "stinger." |
| Radial Nerve | Runs down the arm to control the muscles that extend the wrist and fingers. | The radial nerve winds around the back of the upper arm bone (humerus) so closely that a fracture there often injures the nerve too, producing "wrist drop" — the inability to lift the wrist. Sleeping with your arm draped over a hard edge can compress the same nerve and cause the same temporary numbness, though it recovers as soon as the pressure is released. |
| Sciatic Nerve | The longest nerve in the body, running from the lower back through the hip and down the leg. | At its widest point the sciatic nerve is about as thick as your thumb, making it the largest peripheral nerve in the body. It exits the spine in the lower back and travels through the buttock and down each leg, controlling the hamstrings and most of the muscles below the knee. When a herniated disc in the lower back presses on the sciatic nerve roots it can cause searing pain all the way from the lower back to the foot — the condition known as sciatica. |
| Tibial Nerve | Runs down the back of the leg to control the calf muscles and the sole of the foot. | The tibial nerve branches from the sciatic nerve behind the knee and continues down the calf to supply the muscles that point the foot downward and curl the toes — the muscles used in every step and every jump. It curves around the inside of the ankle (through the tarsal tunnel) to reach the sole, which is why compression there, called tarsal tunnel syndrome, causes numbness and tingling in the bottom of the foot similar to carpal tunnel in the hand. |
How to print
Choose Download PDF for a ready-to-print file that fits US Letter paper (8.5 × 11") in portrait, or Download PNG for the high-resolution image.
Frequently asked questions
What are the two main parts of the nervous system?
The central nervous system (CNS) — the brain and spinal cord — and the peripheral nervous system (PNS) — all the nerves branching out to the rest of the body.
What does the nervous system do?
It controls everything the body does — voluntary actions like walking, involuntary functions like heartbeat and breathing, and your senses, thoughts, and emotions.
What paper size should I print this on?
The diagram is sized for standard US Letter paper (8.5 × 11") in portrait orientation. Use "Download PDF" for a print-ready file that fits the page automatically.
Are there Nervous System and Brain worksheets to go with the diagram?
Yes. The Nervous System and Brain teaching pack, for grades 4 to 6, has 26 lesson slides and 11 printables with answer keys: the guided notes for the lesson slides, 4 diagram sheets, then “Read the Nervous System Diagram” (a worksheet), “Read the Brain Diagram” (a worksheet), “Your Body’s Control Network” (a reading passage), “The Path of a Reflex” (a sequencing worksheet), a vocabulary crossword and a quiz. The diagrams are free to download on this page. The other sheets come with the pack ($7), which is also in the Elementary Science bundle (grades 3 to 6).