Skip to content
LessonPrint

Tall Waves and Close Waves is a free printable Grade 4 science worksheet on modelling waves in terms of amplitude and wavelength, aligned to Common Core standard 4-PS4-1. It prints 8 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two pupils in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 20 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

Next setLesson plan

One paper per pupil

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425

Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

Tall Waves and Close Waves

4-PS4-1

NameDate

Circle the best answer.

1.Faster paddling makes waves closer together. What does that change?
  • A.The depth
  • B.The amplitude
  • C.The wavelength, which is the distance between waves
2.Why use a float rather than watching the water?
  • A.Floats are colourful
  • B.Water cannot be watched
  • C.The float shows the movement at one place clearly
3.Which part of a wave is its amplitude?
  • A.Its speed
  • B.The gap between crests
  • C.Its height from the middle to the crest
4.Two waves have the same wavelength but different amplitudes. What differs?
  • A.Nothing at all
  • B.How tall they are, and how much they move a float
  • C.How far apart they are
5.What has to be kept the same when changing the paddle dip?
  • A.The paddle speed must also change
  • B.Nothing
  • C.The same tank, water and float
6.Taller waves make the float bob more. What does that show?
  • A.Floats are heavy
  • B.Waves are solid
  • C.Waves can make objects move, and bigger waves move them more
7.A float bobs up and down as waves pass. Does it travel along the tank?
  • A.It sinks
  • B.No, it bobs up and down in one place
  • C.Yes, it travels with the wave
8.A bigger paddle dip makes taller waves. What does that change?
  • A.The amplitude, which is the height of the wave
  • B.The colour
  • C.The wavelength

LessonPrint · 4-PS4-1 · Set 20 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Tall Waves and Close Waves

Set 20. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.The wavelength, which is the distance between waves
  2. 2.The float shows the movement at one place clearly
  3. 3.Its height from the middle to the crest
  4. 4.How tall they are, and how much they move a float
  5. 5.The same tank, water and float
  6. 6.Waves can make objects move, and bigger waves move them more
  7. 7.No, it bobs up and down in one place
  8. 8.The amplitude, which is the height of the wave

More practice for 4-PS4-1

Model waves using amplitude and wavelength, and show they can move things.

Teaching this next? Tall Waves and Close Waves is the 55-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 4 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to 4-PS4-1 of the Next Generation Science Standards.