Year 4 Simple electrical circuits worksheet

“Electrical appliances all around” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 4 science unit “Simple electrical circuits”, for children aged 8 to 9, and takes about 20 minutes.

Print it on A4. The child's pages come first; the answers, and what each wrong answer tells you, are on the grown-up page that follows. Weeks 11 to 16 of the year, 10 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

Electrical appliances all around

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 4 · Science · about 20 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can sort appliances by how they get their power, and explain how batteries supply electricity.

A Look back3 min

1.
The fox eats which animal? Circle it.
grassrabbitfox
2.
On which day were the fewest frogs seen? Circle it.
MondayTuesdayWednesday
3.
Is 9 °C warmer or colder than 14 °C? Circle it.
warmercolder

B Watch me, then you4 min

Ali has five things on his desk: a torch, a wooden spoon, a radio, a pencil and a toaster. He sorts them into electrical and non-electrical.

Watch me

A torch needs electricity from batteries, so it is electrical.

A wooden spoon and a pencil need no power, so they are not electrical.

The torch, the radio and the toaster go in the electrical group.

Now you

1.
Write each card in the right column.
kettlehand whiskremote-controlled carpencil
electrical non-electrical
2.
A hairdryer is plugged into the mains. Circle the group it belongs in.
electricalnon-electrical

C Your turn6 min

Read each question. Think about where each thing gets its power from.

1.
Circle the power a kettle uses.
mainsbatteriesno power
2.
Circle the power a torch uses.
mainsbatteriesno power
3.
A torch runs on batteries. Circle yes or no: is it an electrical appliance?
yesno
4.
Write each card in the right column.
toasterwooden spoonbattery-powered toy carhand-turned pencil sharpener
electrical non-electrical

Say it out loud: What changed from one row to the next? Did the power source change whether something is electrical?

D Spot the mistake3 min

A torch lying on a wooden table next to two spare batteries

Kit says: “My torch uses batteries, so it is not an electrical appliance. It is not plugged in.”

1.
Explain why Kit is wrong.

E Think deeper3 min

Some appliances can run on mains electricity or on batteries.

A small portable radio on a shelf beside a pair of spare batteries and a coiled mains lead

1.
The radio in the picture can run on mains or on batteries. Name a different appliance that can do this too. Explain how you know.

How did it feel?1 min

I can do it Nearly Not yet

For the grown-up

Electrical appliances all around · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. rabbit If they circle fox, they have read the chain backwards. Ask them to follow the arrow to the animal that is eaten.

2. Tuesday If they circle Wednesday, they have picked the tallest bar. Ask them to find the shortest bar instead.

3. colder If they say warmer, they have treated 9 as the warmer one. Ask them to find 9 and 14 on the thermometer and say which is higher up.

B

1. electrical: kettle, remote-controlled car · non-electrical: hand whisk, pencil If the car is in the non-electrical column, they think batteries mean not electrical. Ask what the batteries give the car so it can move.

2. electrical If they circle non-electrical, ask what the hairdryer needs to blow hot air.

C

1. mains If they circle batteries, ask whether the kettle is plugged into the wall.

2. batteries If they circle no power, ask what the torch needs before it can shine.

3. yes If they circle no, this is the common myth. Ask what the batteries give the torch.

4. electrical: toaster, battery-powered toy car · non-electrical: wooden spoon, hand-turned pencil sharpener

D

1. Look for: A reason that batteries supply or store electricity, so a battery torch is electrical even without a plug. If they say the torch is not electrical, the myth is still there. Ask what the batteries give the torch, and why it lights when switched on.

E

1. Look for: An appliance other than the radio that can run on either batteries or mains, such as a laptop, with a sensible reason.

Words to use

Say“Where does this thing get its power from, and does it still need electricity to work?”

Instead of“Tell them batteries do not count, because nothing is plugged in.”

After the sheet

Walk round the house with your child and find five objects. Sort them into electrical and non-electrical, and say where each one gets its power. Do not touch any plugs or sockets.

Tick what your child got right in StudyDen. Anything missed comes back in a later Look back box, so there's no need to redo the sheet.

The rest of this unit

9 more sheets come with a StudyDen plan, in teaching order:

Appliances of the future(with a plan)
Parts of a circuit(with a plan)
Build a simple circuit(with a plan)
Finding circuit faults(with a plan)
Switches open and close(with a plan)
Conductors and insulators(with a plan)
Testing materials for conductors(with a plan)
Where electricity comes from(with a plan)
Scientists, engineers and electricians(with a plan)

Every Year 4 science worksheet

The worksheets plan opens a printable sheet for every lesson in Years 1 to 6, each with its answers on a separate page for you. It costs £6.99 a month or £59 a year for the whole family, with no free trial.

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