Printable ScholarSeasons Diagram
Free printable seasons diagram — a labeled illustration showing Earth at the summer solstice, autumnal equinox, winter solstice, and vernal equinox, with the 23.5° axial tilt explained. Download a high-resolution PDF or PNG for Letter paper.
Part of the The Seasons teaching pack for grades 4 to 6: 26 lesson slides and 8 printables with answer keys. The diagram and the blank one to label are free.
Teaching ideas for The Seasons
Pick the ideas that suit your class, then follow the plan or use the sheets in any order.
- Carry a globe. A student in the middle shines a flashlight as the Sun. Another carries a tilted globe around them, keeping the axis leaning the same way. Stop at each solstice and equinox.
- Slant the light. Shine a flashlight straight down on a sheet of paper, then tilt it. The same light spreads over a bigger, dimmer patch. That is sunlight in winter.
- Walk the orbit. One student is the Sun. Another is Earth and walks around the Sun, always leaning toward the same wall. The class calls out the season at four stops.
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) The Seasons Guided Notes (in the pack) Seasons Diagram Blank Seasons Diagram |
| Day 2 | Students trace Earth’s trip around the Sun on “Read the Diagram” and work out why the lean of its axis brings the seasons. | Read the Diagram (in the pack) |
| Day 3 | Read “Why We Have Seasons” and answer the questions. | Why We Have Seasons (in the pack) |
| Day 4 | Students read a month and a country and write the season, eight times. | Which Season Is It? (in the pack) |
| Day 5 | Review with the crossword, then give the quiz. | The Seasons Crossword (in the pack) The Seasons Quiz (in the pack) |
The sheets marked “in the pack” are in the The Seasons teaching pack below.
NGSS standards
- Supports MS-ESS1-1: Develop and use a model of the Earth-sun-moon system to describe the cyclic patterns of lunar phases, eclipses of the sun and moon, and seasons.
The Seasons teaching pack
Teaching the seasons? Here is a ready-to-teach lesson. 26 slides and 8 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: the diagram and the blank one to label, marked Download below. The whole pack is $7: 18 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 Inside the Earth and Volcanoes 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
- 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 (this pack)
- Moon Phases and Eclipses
- States of Matter
- Electric Circuits
- Forms of Energy
- Scientific Method
- Simple Machines
- Magnets and Magnetic Fields
Teach the Seasons 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. TeachThe Seasons Guided NotesStudents fill in the blanks as you present. With answer key.In the $7 pack
Free
Free
In the pack
3. ReasonRead the DiagramRead the seasons picture: trace Earth’s trip around the Sun, then work out why the lean of the axis changes the season.In the $7 pack
In the pack
4. ReadWhy We Have SeasonsA one-page text on why Earth has seasons, with eight questions.In the $7 pack
In the pack
5. ApplyWhich Season Is It?Read a month and a country in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere and write the season, eight times.In the $7 pack
In the pack
6. ReviewThe Seasons CrosswordFourteen words about the seasons with clues and a word bank.In the $7 pack
In the pack
7. CheckThe Seasons QuizLabel five parts, six multiple choice and two written answers. Scored out of 13.In the $7 pack
Seasons worksheets, crossword and quiz
The Seasons teaching pack is 26 lesson slides (PowerPoint and PDF) and 8 printables with answer keys for grades 4 to 6, in the order you would teach them: the guided notes for the lesson slides, the labeled diagram and the blank one to label, then “Read the Diagram” (a worksheet), “Why We Have Seasons” (a reading passage), “Which Season Is It?” (a which-season table), a vocabulary crossword and a quiz.
The sheets are in a suggested teaching order: teach the lesson, have students label the blank diagram, 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 diagram and the blank one to label 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).
Earth's four seasonal positions
Earth's seasons are caused by the tilt of its axis — not its distance from the Sun. As Earth orbits the Sun, the tilt causes each hemisphere to receive more or less direct sunlight at different times of year. Here is what happens at each labeled part of the diagram:
| Position | What it does | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Summer Solstice | Around June 21 — the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun, giving it the longest day of the year. | At the summer solstice the Northern Hemisphere is tilted as directly toward the Sun as it ever gets (23.5°), so the Sun rises highest in the sky, traces its longest daily arc, and shines most directly on the surface. The result is the most hours of daylight and the strongest heating. At the same time, the Southern Hemisphere is tilted away and experiencing its winter solstice — its shortest day. At the Arctic Circle the Sun does not set at all (the "midnight sun"), while Antarctica is in continuous polar night. |
| Autumnal Equinox | Around September 22 — the Sun is directly above the equator and day and night are equal everywhere. | At the equinoxes Earth's axial tilt is neither toward nor away from the Sun — both hemispheres receive equal amounts of sunlight. "Equinox" comes from the Latin for "equal night," and on these two days the length of day and night is approximately 12 hours almost everywhere on Earth. The autumnal equinox marks the official start of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere and spring in the Southern Hemisphere — a perfectly symmetrical transition between the extremes. |
| Winter Solstice | Around December 21 — the Northern Hemisphere is tilted away from the Sun, giving it the shortest day of the year. | The winter solstice is the mirror image of the summer solstice: the Northern Hemisphere is now tilted as far from the Sun as it gets. The Sun rises low in the sky, traces a short arc, and sets early, producing the fewest hours of daylight of the year. The sunlight that does reach the surface arrives at a steep angle and is spread over a larger area, delivering less energy per square metre — which is why winter days feel so much colder than summer ones, not because Earth is further from the Sun (it is actually slightly closer in January). |
| Vernal Equinox | Around March 20 — the second equinox, marking the start of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. | The vernal (spring) equinox repeats the equal day-and-night balance of the autumnal equinox, but this time the Northern Hemisphere is moving toward summer. Day lengths are increasing, the Sun is climbing higher each day, and temperatures are beginning to rise. Many cultural and religious celebrations — Easter, Nowruz, Holi — are timed to the vernal equinox, as it has marked the symbolic renewal of spring for thousands of years across many cultures. |
| Earth's Axial Tilt | Earth's axis is tilted at 23.5° relative to its orbit — this tilt is the entire cause of the seasons. | If Earth's axis were perfectly upright (0° tilt) every part of the planet would receive the same amount of sunlight year-round and there would be no seasons at all. It is the 23.5° tilt that creates the cycle — as Earth orbits the Sun over the course of a year, first one hemisphere and then the other is tilted toward the Sun. This tilt is also responsible for the midnight sun at the poles in summer and the polar night in winter. The tilt itself barely changes over human timescales, though it does wobble very slightly over thousands of years. |
| Sun | The Sun sits at the centre of Earth's orbit — its position does not change as Earth orbits around it. | The Sun does not move toward or away from Earth enough to cause the seasons — Earth's orbit is nearly circular, with a variation of only about 3 percent in distance between closest approach (perihelion, early January) and furthest point (aphelion, early July). Remarkably, Earth is actually closest to the Sun in January, the heart of Northern Hemisphere winter. This proves conclusively that distance from the Sun is not the cause of the seasons — axial tilt is. |
How to print
Choose Download PDF for a ready-to-print file that fits US Letter paper (8.5 × 11") in landscape, or Download PNG for the high-resolution image.
Frequently asked questions
What causes the seasons?
Earth's axial tilt (23.5°) — not its distance from the Sun. As Earth orbits, the tilt causes each hemisphere to receive more or less direct sunlight at different times of year.
Why is it summer in the Northern Hemisphere when it is winter in the Southern Hemisphere?
When the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun it receives more direct sunlight (summer); at the same time the Southern Hemisphere is tilted away and receives less direct sunlight (winter).
What paper size should I print this on?
The diagram is sized for standard US Letter paper (8.5 × 11") in landscape orientation. Use "Download PDF" for a print-ready file that fits the page automatically.
Are there Seasons worksheets to go with the diagram?
Yes. The Seasons teaching pack, for grades 4 to 6, has 26 lesson slides and 8 printables with answer keys: the guided notes for the lesson slides, the labeled diagram and the blank one to label, then “Read the Diagram” (a worksheet), “Why We Have Seasons” (a reading passage), “Which Season Is It?” (a which-season table), a vocabulary crossword and a quiz. The diagram and the blank one to label 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).