Life cycle of a salmon foldable activity and word wall vocabulary cards

Explore the stages of the salmon life cycle with this fun foldable activity. A fun alternative to a worksheet that can be used to support learning around habitats, life cycles or fish.

There are 3 similar cut-and-paste templates to choose from so you can pick one that best matches your pupils’ needs:

Template 1: Colour the template and life cycle stages, match the labels to the pictures, glue, cut, and fold. As an alternative, pupils could write the life cycle stages directly onto the template.

Template 2: Colour the template and life cycle stages, arrange the stages in order on the template, glue, cut and fold.

Template 3: Larger template. This option has the life cycle stages as simple words, and also with descriptions.

In addition, this resource also contains cards for a life cycle of a salmon word wall. There are 12 words included (3 to a page) with and without a description. The words are:

• eggs
• eyed eggs
• mature eggs
• alevin
• yolk sac
• fry
• parr
• smolt
• adult salmon
• spawning
• migration
• redd

For early finishers, there is a salmon life cycle word search with 10 words to find.

US and UK versions are included. Please note this 20 page resource is not editable.

Benefits of this activity

• Low prep
• Children learn about the salmon life cycle in a fun and hands-on way, that’s a bit different from a standard science worksheet.
• Can be used to introduce the life cycle, or as a review/assessment to check understanding.
• Encourages fine motor/scissor skills, hand-eye coordination (folding), and sequencing.
• Differentiated options allow for multiple age ranges or abilities to do the same activity.
• Finished foldouts can be inserted into a science notebook where they can be referenced by children.