Class 6 · 6th standard · 2026-27

Class 6 Social Science worksheets, free, with every answer on the page

Three free Class 6 Social Science worksheets - one each for History, Geography and Civics - with every question and every answer printed on this page rather than behind a download. Social Science looks like facts to memorise, and it is marked on cause, consequence and comparison. A child who has learned every date and cannot say why something changed is answering a question the paper does not ask. Every exercise opens with one question worked through in full.

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3 worksheets · 84 questions · every answer on the page · no sign-up · aligned to NCERT's Class 6 Social Science book is Exploring Society: India and Beyond, which combines History, Geography and Civics. Schools also use their own texts, so these sheets are written to the reasoning rather than to one book's chapters.

What these practise

Why early people moved, settled, and began farming
How historians know - objects, buildings, grains and inscriptions as sources
Comparing two ways of life so that both sides are described
Latitude and longitude, and what each measures
Rotation and revolution, told apart by what each causes
What a map needs to be usable, and why
Gram panchayat and gram sabha, and the relationship between them
Why an institution or a rule exists, rather than what it is
What a livelihood depends on, and what happens when that is missing

Last updated 2026-07-28

Free, with answers

The worksheets themselves

Every question is on this page, and so is every answer. Nothing is behind a sign-up, and there is no file to download unless you want one - use the print button on any sheet to save it as a PDF.

practice · medium · 25 min

Early humans and the first cities

Class 6 Social Science · History · 28 questions with answers

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Class 6 History is not a list of dates. Almost every question asks why something changed or how we know it happened, and both need a reason rather than a fact.

Explains why early people moved from hunting to farming
Says how historians know about a period, not just what happened
Compares two ways of life and gives a difference that matters

Exercise 1 of 3 · 10 questions

Answer in one or two sentences.

Write the answer · Warm-up

Here’s one done for you

Why did early people move from place to place? → because the food ran out and they had to follow it. The answer names the cause, not the behaviour. 'Because they were nomads' just renames the fact - and that is the most common way marks are lost in this chapter.

1)Why did early people move from place to place?
2)Why did people begin to settle in one place?
3)Why did early settlements grow near rivers?
4)Why did people begin to keep animals rather than only hunt them?
5)Why were stone tools used for such a long period?
6)Why did the discovery of fire change how early people lived?
7)Why did farming lead to people owning things for the first time?
8)Why did trade begin between early settlements?
9)Why do we know far more about later periods than about the earliest ones?
10)Why did some early settlements grow into cities while others stayed villages?

Answers

1) Because they hunted animals and gathered plants, and both ran out in one place, so they had to follow the food.
2) Because they learned to grow crops, and a crop has to be looked after in one place until it is ready.
3) Because rivers gave water for drinking and for crops, and the land beside them was fertile.
4) Because keeping animals gave a steady supply of milk and meat instead of depending on a successful hunt.
5) Because stone was found everywhere and could be shaped without any other tool, and metals were not yet known.
6) Because it gave warmth, light and protection from animals, and cooked food, which is easier to eat and to digest.
7) Because a stored harvest could be kept and passed on, which nothing a hunter-gatherer carried could be.
8) Because different places had different things - grain, stone, metal - and each settlement wanted what it could not produce itself.
9) Because later periods left writing and inscriptions, while the earliest ones left only objects that have to be interpreted.
10) Because those with surplus food, a river and a trade route could support many people who did not farm, such as traders and craftsmen.

Exercise 2 of 3 · 10 questions

How do historians know? Name the kind of evidence.

Write the answer · Guided

Here’s one done for you

That Harappans planned their cities → from the remains of streets and drains laid out in a grid. The question is not what happened but how anyone knows. Every 'how do we know' answer names a source: an object, a building, a grain, or a piece of writing. That is a whole category of marks children never expect.

1)That early people made stone tools
2)That Harappans planned their cities carefully
3)That people grew wheat and barley
4)What kings of a later period ordered to be done
5)That Harappans traded with distant lands
6)That people cooked their food
7)What clothes people wore
8)That a settlement was suddenly abandoned
9)How old a wooden object is
10)That people kept cattle

Answers

1) From the tools themselves, found at sites where people lived.
2) From the remains of streets, drains and buildings laid out in a grid.
3) From burnt grains found at excavation sites.
4) From inscriptions - writing carved on stone or metal.
5) From Harappan seals and beads found at sites far outside the Harappan region.
6) From hearths, ash and charred bones found where they lived.
7) From figurines, sculptures and paintings that show people dressed.
8) From objects left behind in place, with no sign of the settlement being rebuilt.
9) From dating the wood scientifically, which tells us roughly when the tree died.
10) From animal bones found at settlement sites, and from cattle shown on seals.

Exercise 3 of 3 · 8 questions

Give one important difference between each pair.

Write the answer · Practice

Here’s one done for you

Hunter-gatherer versus farmer → one moved to follow food, the other stayed to look after crops. A good comparison names the same thing about both sides. 'Farmers grew crops' describes only one half and does not compare anything - the word 'while' is a useful test that both sides are present.

1)A hunter-gatherer and a farmer
2)A Harappan city and a village of the same period
3)A stone tool and an iron tool
4)A written source and an object dug up from the ground
5)The Equator and the Prime Meridian
6)A map and a globe
7)A gram panchayat and a gram sabha
8)A village livelihood and a city livelihood

Answers

1) A hunter-gatherer moved to follow food, while a farmer stayed in one place to look after crops.
2) The city had planned streets, drains and large buildings, while a village had fewer houses and no such planning.
3) An iron tool was stronger and stayed sharp longer, so it could clear land and cut crops far more easily.
4) A written source tells us directly what someone thought worth recording, while an object has to be interpreted and cannot say why it was made.
5) The Equator is a line of latitude running east to west, while the Prime Meridian is a line of longitude running pole to pole.
6) A globe shows the true shape and size of the Earth, while a map is flat and can show far more detail of a small area.
7) The panchayat is the small elected body that makes decisions, while the gram sabha is the meeting of all adult voters that it answers to.
8) A village livelihood usually depends directly on land, water or weather, while a city livelihood usually depends on customers, wages or trade.

While your child works

'Because they were nomads' renames the fact instead of explaining it. Ask 'but why did they do that?' whenever an answer restates the question.
The 'how do we know' questions are a whole category of marks children do not expect. Every answer names a source: an object, a building, a grain, an inscription.
In comparisons, check the word 'while' or 'whereas' appears. If it does not, usually only one side has been described.

Open the History worksheet on its own page

practice · medium · 25 min

The Earth, globes and maps

Class 6 Social Science · Geography · 30 questions with answers

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Class 6 Geography introduces the grid on a globe and the two motions of the Earth. The commonest error is not confusion about the facts but mixing up rotation and revolution, which have completely different consequences.

Tells latitude from longitude and says what each measures
Distinguishes rotation from revolution by what each causes
Reads the four elements a map needs to be usable

Exercise 1 of 3 · 11 questions

Latitude or longitude? Write which, and what it measures.

Write the answer · Warm-up

Here’s one done for you

Lines running east to west → latitude. A useful memory hook: lines of latitude lie flat like the rungs of a ladder, and 'lat' sounds like 'flat'. Longitude lines are the long ones running pole to pole. Children mix these up constantly, and this one hook usually settles it for good.

1)Lines running east to west, parallel to each other
2)Lines running from pole to pole
3)The Equator
4)The Prime Meridian
5)The Tropic of Cancer
6)The Tropic of Capricorn
7)The Arctic Circle
8)The line at 180 degrees, opposite the Prime Meridian
9)The lines used to work out time zones
10)The North Pole, at 90 degrees
11)The line that divides the Northern and Southern Hemispheres

Answers

1) Latitude - it measures distance north or south of the Equator.
2) Longitude - it measures distance east or west of the Prime Meridian.
3) Latitude - it is the 0 degree line of latitude.
4) Longitude - it is the 0 degree line of longitude.
5) Latitude - it is 23.5 degrees north of the Equator.
6) Latitude - it is 23.5 degrees south of the Equator.
7) Latitude - it is 66.5 degrees north of the Equator.
8) Longitude - it is the meridian on the far side of the Earth from the Prime Meridian.
9) Longitude - time zones are worked out from lines of longitude.
10) Latitude - it is the highest latitude north.
11) Latitude - that line is the Equator.

Exercise 2 of 3 · 10 questions

Rotation or revolution? Name it and say what it causes.

Write the answer · Guided

Here’s one done for you

Day and night → rotation. The Earth turns, so the side facing the Sun has day. Seasons are revolution plus the tilt - and the tilt is the part children leave out, without which revolution alone would not produce seasons at all. That omission is the most common lost mark in the chapter.

1)The Earth spins on its axis once in 24 hours.
2)The Earth moves around the Sun once in 365 and a quarter days.
3)Day and night
4)The seasons
5)A leap year every four years
6)Sunrise happening earlier in the east of India than in the west
7)Longer days in summer than in winter
8)The midnight sun in the far north
9)The time difference between India and the United Kingdom
10)Why the Sun appears to move across the sky during a day

Answers

1) Rotation.
2) Revolution.
3) Rotation - the side facing the Sun has day, the other has night.
4) Revolution, together with the tilt of the Earth's axis.
5) Revolution - the extra quarter day each year adds up to one day every four years.
6) Rotation - the eastern part turns into the sunlight first.
7) Revolution together with the tilt - that hemisphere leans towards the Sun in summer.
8) Revolution together with the tilt - the far north stays tilted towards the Sun through its summer.
9) Rotation - different longitudes face the Sun at different moments.
10) Rotation - the Earth turns, so the Sun only appears to move.

Exercise 3 of 3 · 9 questions

Answer in one sentence.

Write the answer · Practice

Here’s one done for you

Why does a map need a scale? → because it tells you what a distance on the map means on the ground. Notice the answer says what the scale is for, not what it is. 'Because it shows the scale' repeats the question - and this pattern of restating rather than explaining is the single most common error in the whole subject.

1)Why does a map need a scale?
2)Why does a map need a direction arrow?
3)Why are symbols used on a map instead of pictures?
4)Give one thing a globe shows better than a map.
5)Why is a physical map coloured differently from a political map?
6)Why is north usually placed at the top of a map?
7)Why can a map of a city show more detail than a map of India on the same sheet?
8)What is a sketch map, and when is one useful?
9)Why do two maps of the same country sometimes look different in shape?

Answers

1) Because it tells you what a distance on the map means as a real distance on the ground.
2) Because without it you cannot tell which way is north, so you cannot use the map to find anything.
3) Because symbols take up little space and mean the same thing on every map, so any reader can understand them.
4) A globe shows the true shape and size of the continents, because a flat map always distorts them.
5) Because a physical map uses colour to show height and landforms, while a political map uses it to separate countries or states.
6) Because mapmakers agreed on it, so that anyone picking up a map can read it the same way without being told.
7) Because the city map covers a much smaller area at a larger scale, so there is room to show streets and buildings.
8) A rough map drawn without a scale, useful for showing someone the way when exact distances do not matter.
9) Because a flat map has to stretch a curved surface somewhere, and different maps choose to stretch different parts.

While your child works

'Lat sounds like flat' fixes the latitude-longitude confusion better than any diagram, and it lasts.
Seasons need revolution AND the tilt. A child who writes only revolution has given half the answer.
An answer that repeats the question earns nothing. 'Because it shows the scale' is not an explanation of why a scale is needed.

Open the Geography worksheet on its own page

practice · medium · 20 min

Diversity, government and livelihoods

Class 6 Social Science · Civics · 26 questions with answers

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Civics questions look like definitions and are marked as reasoning. Why does a village need a panchayat, why does diversity matter, why is a gram sabha held at all - each needs a purpose, not a description.

Explains what local government bodies actually do
Says why a rule or institution exists rather than what it is
Connects a livelihood to the place and conditions it depends on

Exercise 1 of 3 · 10 questions

Who does this, and why them?

Write the answer · Warm-up

Here’s one done for you

Deciding how to spend village funds → the gram panchayat, because it is elected by the village. The reason matters as much as the name. Note the difference in the third one: the panchayat decides, but the gram sabha - every adult in the village - approves and questions. That relationship is the most examined idea in the chapter.

1)Deciding how to spend village funds on a new well
2)Keeping a record of births and deaths in a village
3)Approving the panchayat's plans and questioning its spending
4)Running schools and hospitals across a whole district
5)Repairing a village road
6)Deciding the state budget for education
7)Settling a small dispute between two villagers
8)Providing electricity across the state
9)Approving the annual accounts of the village
10)Building a new district hospital

Answers

1) The gram panchayat, because it is elected by the village to make decisions for it.
2) The gram panchayat, because it keeps the official village records.
3) The gram sabha, because it is the meeting of all adult voters and the panchayat answers to it.
4) The district or state administration, because the work is far larger than one village.
5) The gram panchayat, because village roads are its responsibility.
6) The state government, because education across the state is far beyond one village.
7) The gram panchayat, because settling small local disputes is one of its duties.
8) The state government, because the supply covers the whole state.
9) The gram sabha, because the panchayat must place its accounts before all the voters.
10) The state government, because a district hospital serves far more than one village.

Exercise 2 of 3 · 7 questions

Answer in one or two sentences.

Write the answer · Guided

Here’s one done for you

Why is the gram sabha important? → because it lets every adult question the spending, keeping the panchayat answerable. The answer gives the purpose. 'Because it is a meeting of villagers' is a description and earns nothing - the question asked why it matters, not what it is.

1)Why is the gram sabha important even though the panchayat makes decisions?
2)Why does India have people speaking so many different languages?
3)Why is it wrong to treat someone differently because of the work they do?
4)Why does the Constitution guarantee equality rather than leaving it to people to be fair?
5)Why is diversity described as a strength rather than a problem?
6)Why do people migrate from villages to cities?
7)Why is it important that women take part in panchayat decisions?

Answers

1) Because it lets every adult in the village question how money is being spent, which keeps the panchayat answerable to the people who elected it.
2) Because different regions developed their own languages over a very long history, and people also moved and settled in new places bringing their languages with them.
3) Because the work a person does is not a measure of their worth, and treating them as lesser denies them the equality every person is entitled to.
4) Because fairness left to individuals depends on their goodwill, while a guarantee gives every person something they can demand as a right.
5) Because people with different languages, foods, skills and ways of living bring more ideas and abilities than any single group could.
6) Mostly for work, since cities offer more kinds of jobs, and also for education and health care that villages may not have.
7) Because women make up half the village and face problems - water, health, schooling - that will not be raised if they are not in the room.

Exercise 3 of 3 · 9 questions

What does each livelihood depend on? One sentence.

Write the answer · Practice

Here’s one done for you

A fisherman → depends on the sea and the weather, since a storm means no fishing. The answer names what the livelihood needs and what happens when it is missing. Adding the consequence is what turns a listed fact into an explanation, and it is what the mark is for.

1)A fisherman on the coast
2)A farmer growing rice
3)A weaver in a small town
4)A shopkeeper in a city market
5)A potter in a village
6)A construction worker in a city
7)A daily-wage farm labourer
8)A bus driver
9)A vegetable seller with a handcart

Answers

1) On the sea and the weather, since a rough sea or a storm means no fishing at all.
2) On rain or irrigation, since rice needs a great deal of water at the right time.
3) On a supply of thread and on people wanting to buy the cloth that is made.
4) On enough customers passing through the market and on being able to get goods to sell.
5) On a supply of suitable clay and on people still buying clay pots rather than plastic or steel.
6) On building work being available, which stops if construction slows down or during heavy rain.
7) On there being work in the fields, which comes only in certain seasons and not all year.
8) On the bus running and on enough passengers, and on fuel prices staying affordable.
9) On being able to buy fresh vegetables cheaply each morning and sell them the same day before they spoil.

While your child works

The panchayat decides and the gram sabha approves. That relationship is the most examined idea in the chapter and children reliably blur it.
'Why is it important' never wants a description. Ask 'what would go wrong without it?' - the answer to that is usually the mark.
In livelihood answers, adding what happens when the thing is missing turns a fact into an explanation.

Open the Civics worksheet on its own page

How should we use these at home?

Twenty to twenty-five minutes each. Every exercise opens with a worked example that shows the reasoning, because the reasoning is what is being practised rather than the content.

Ask 'but why did they do that?' whenever an answer restates the question. It is the single most useful prompt in this subject.
For 'why is it important', ask 'what would go wrong without it?' The answer to that is usually the mark.
Check comparisons contain both sides. The word 'while' is a quick test.
Let your child mark their own work. Every answer is on the page for exactly that.

Where do Class 6 children usually stall?

Four places, and none of them is a knowledge gap.

Restating instead of explaining. 'Because it shows the scale' is not why a map needs a scale.
Missing the source questions entirely. 'How do we know' is a category most children have never been taught to recognise.
Half-comparisons. Describing farmers without describing hunter-gatherers.
Blurring gram panchayat and gram sabha. One decides, the other approves and questions - and it is the most examined idea in the Civics section.

Two smaller ones worth naming: latitude and longitude get mixed up constantly ('lat sounds like flat'), and seasons are caused by revolution and the tilt - a child writing only revolution has given half an answer.

Questions parents ask

Class 6 Social Science worksheets - your questions

Are these Class 6 Social Science worksheets free?

Yes. Every question and every answer is on this page, with no sign-up, no email wall and no account. The printable version puts the answers on a separate final sheet.

Do these include an answer key?

Yes, written in full sentences as the paper expects rather than as one-word answers, and on a separate sheet when printed.

My child has memorised everything but still loses marks. Why?

Because the subject marks cause, evidence and comparison rather than facts. Knowing when something happened and being unable to say why it happened, or how anyone knows, means answering a question the paper is not asking.

How can my child remember latitude versus longitude?

Lines of latitude lie flat, like the rungs of a ladder, and 'lat' sounds like 'flat'. Longitude lines are the long ones running pole to pole. It is the most confused pair in the subject and this hook usually settles it for good.

What causes the seasons?

Revolution around the Sun together with the tilt of the Earth's axis. The tilt is the part children leave out, and without it revolution alone would not produce seasons at all - which makes it the most common lost mark in the chapter.

What is the difference between a gram panchayat and a gram sabha?

The gram panchayat is the elected body that makes decisions. The gram sabha is the meeting of all adult voters, which approves the panchayat's plans and questions its spending. The panchayat answers to the sabha.

Are these matched to NCERT?

They are written to the reasoning Class 6 Social Science expects rather than to one book's chapter order, so they work whether your school uses NCERT's Exploring Society or its own text.

Can I print these worksheets?

Yes. They print cleanly on A4 with the answers on a separate final page, and nothing needs to be downloaded or signed up for.

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Class 6 Social Science worksheets, free, with every answer on the page

The worksheets themselves

Early humans and the first cities

The Earth, globes and maps

Diversity, government and livelihoods

Class 6 Social Science - the guide

What does Class 6 Social Science actually mark?

How should we use these at home?

Where do Class 6 children usually stall?

Class 6 Social Science worksheets - your questions

Worksheets are free. So is the first class.

Book a free assessment