Learning Experience Ideas
Do your students want to know where water comes from and where it goes? Here is a collection of ideas to help your children discover answers to these questions!
One of the most common experiences children have with water is when it's in the form of rain. How can playing in puddles and collecting rainwater help children learn about the world around them? Follow along to find out!
Start with a Water Hunt!
Search for Signs of Water
When beginning any investigation or long term study, many classes will look for a clear connection between the chosen topic and the world directly around them. An easy way to do this for Hydrology or other water studies is to go on a Water Walk or Water Scavenger Hunt. Whether you are walking with a class indoors or outside (in any season), there are signs of water everywhere! Will your children notice fire hydrants and sprinklers? Or maybe they will point out drains and downspouts? Perhaps they enjoy seeing water movement like through drinking fountains or the rain itself. Many times children will notice things adults don't ever think of. What will your children see?
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Many Paths of Studying Water: What will yours be?
There's many pathways to studying hydrology extending from this point. The next step depends on what the children in your class are most interested in. And because the journey of water doesn't have a distinct starting or ending point (The Water Cycle), you can start anywhere!
Here are some possible concepts you may consider during your hydrology investigation:
Here are some possible concepts you may consider during your hydrology investigation:
The Water Cycle
States of Matter Properties of Water Natural Sources of Water Ecosystems/Movement of Water in Nature Water Collection Water Usage and Conservation |
Water Filtration and Sanitation
Water Quality and Pollution Natural Filtration and Sediments Weathering/Erosion Ground Water vs. Surface Water Pipes and Plumbing Water Pressure/Velocity Hydropower |
Water's Journey: The Water Cycle
Try This!
Questions/Discussion
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Family Connection
Questions/Discussion
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Read-Along Book |
Learn more...
- NASA ClimateKids: What is the Water Cycle?
- USGS: Water Cycle for Kids
- USGS: Evaporation and the Water Cycle
- USGS: Interactive Water Cycle Diagram for Kids
- National Geographic Kids: The Water Cycle
Natural Sources: Rain
Natural Sources: Rivers and Streams
Try This!
River Model Experiment
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Family Connection
Questions/Discussion
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Learn more...
- National Geographic Kids: Search “rivers” to explore information on animals that live in rivers.
- Kid World Citizen: Resources to Learn about Rivers
- National Geographic: Rivers
- American Rivers: Learn how to conserve Earth’s water resources
Wetlands: Natural Filtration
Did you know wetlands purify water? Wetlands help trap excessive amounts of pollutants and silt. A wetland system can also protect shorelines, cleanse polluted waters, prevent floods, and restore underground water supplies. Children will explore how wetlands benefit people, animals, and plants.
Did you know wetlands purify water? Wetlands help trap excessive amounts of pollutants and silt. A wetland system can also protect shorelines, cleanse polluted waters, prevent floods, and restore underground water supplies. Children will explore how wetlands benefit people, animals, and plants.
Wetland Experiments
Explain that a wetland catches rain and holds it just like the sponge did in this experiment. The water is stored in the ground and fills wells so we have water during hot, dry summers. Wetlands also slow water down if there is a flood so roads and houses are not washed away. Notice how the sponge slowed the flow of water. Compare the three pans of water. Which water would you rather drink? Refer back to the water cycle lesson. Wetlands improve our water quality. Plant roots and leaves help to clean dirty water and create a nice place for place for plants and animals to live. Save water and pour into 3 jars with lids and labels. |
Try This!
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Questions/Discussion
- Lead a class discussion by asking the students what they consider to be the characteristics of wetlands. List these characteristics on the board.
- Show the class pictures of different types of wetlands, including swamps, fresh and saltwater marshes, and discuss the different types of plants and animals found in these wetlands.
- Explain that the wetland model will be used to demonstrate, in a simplified way, two important functions of wetlands.
- How does a wetland help improve water quality? (i.e. it slows down water, holds in pollutants)
- Besides being a home to many plants and animals, how does a wetland help people? (i.e. it cleans water, stores water, and prevents flooding)
- Marshes (type of wetland) provide food, water, and shelter for wildlife. What are some examples of wildlife that live in or by a marsh?
Family Connection
- Examine a wetlands map together. Do you live near a wetland? Have you ever seen one?
- Ask your child to demonstrate how wetlands clean water by using a sponge. Knowing that wetlands are effective filters, do you think wetlands often become polluted? And what can you do to help preserve wetlands?
- Could visit a wetland (or near any other body of water to pick up trash and discuss the importance of keeping any and all water clean and free of trash
Floating Wetlands
Children will learn that plants and floating treatment wetlands are ways to help keep water healthy. Floating treatment wetlands, also referred to as floating wetland islands or artificial reed beds, consist of emergent aquatic plants (macrophytes) growing on a floating mat on the lake water surface, in contrast to being rooted in sediment like traditional wetlands. Try This!
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Create a Floating Wetland
- Show children a picture of the floating treatment wetlands. Explain that these are made by people as a way to keep the water healthy.
- Create a floating treatment wetland display for your classroom. Choose a volunteer to pour spring water into a glass vase or bowl.
- Have another volunteer place the roots of the plant(s) through the plastic, so the leaves are on top and the roots are below. What do plants need to survive
- Place the plastic on the water. Explain to children that the plant will float on the surface of the water. Where are the roots
- Explain that the roots in the water will help keep the water healthy. This is also how a floating treatment wetland works.
- What do you think would happen if there were not plants to keep the water clean?
- How does the floating treatment wetlands help animals, such as fish?
Family Connection
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Learn more...
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Water Movement: Pipes/Plumbing
Try This!
- “Where Does the Water Go?” Investigating Pipes and Plumbing
Investigate Further
Provide transparent plastic pipes and connectors, found in a hardware store. Children can build pipe systems, and then pour water and watch it flow down through their system into the water table or a bucket. Children are fascinated by making water flow. Provide them with opportunities to understand how flow works and what stops it as they solve problems over and over in different ways at a water table or outdoors. Pipe, connectors and water make a great lesson in physics for young children. |
Materials Needed:
Activities:
1. Building Water Pathways:
Assembly: Provide children with different types of pipes and connectors. Encourage them to assemble a pathway or a simple structure using the pipes. Explain how water can flow through these pipes just like it flows through plumbing at home.
Experiment: Let them pour water at one end and observe how it moves through the pathway. Discuss how the water flows differently in straight pipes, bends, or intersections.
2. Observing Water Movement:
Gravity Experiment: Set up a slightly inclined pathway with different types of pipes and let water flow through it. Discuss how gravity helps move the water and how the speed changes on different slopes.
Measuring Flow: Encourage them to measure how much water flows through different parts of the pathway in a specific time. Use measuring cups or containers with volume markings.
3. Understanding Pressure and Velocity:
Obstruction Experiment: Introduce an obstruction (like partially covering the end of a pipe) to show how it affects water flow. Discuss how it increases pressure before the obstruction and how it changes velocity after the obstruction is removed.
Exploration: Try different pipe diameters to show how narrower pipes increase pressure and affect water speed compared to wider ones.
4. Playful Learning:
Add Props: Introduce toy boats or objects that can float. Let them observe how the movement of water affects these objects differently based on velocity and pressure.
Labeling: Add stickers or draw markings on pipes to label where water flows fastest or slowest. This visual aid helps in understanding differences in velocity.
- Plastic pipes or tubes (clear ones work best to see the water flow)
- Various connectors (elbows, T-joints, straight connectors)
- Buckets or containers
- Water
- Measuring cups or containers with volume markings
- Stickers or markers for labeling
Activities:
1. Building Water Pathways:
Assembly: Provide children with different types of pipes and connectors. Encourage them to assemble a pathway or a simple structure using the pipes. Explain how water can flow through these pipes just like it flows through plumbing at home.
Experiment: Let them pour water at one end and observe how it moves through the pathway. Discuss how the water flows differently in straight pipes, bends, or intersections.
2. Observing Water Movement:
Gravity Experiment: Set up a slightly inclined pathway with different types of pipes and let water flow through it. Discuss how gravity helps move the water and how the speed changes on different slopes.
Measuring Flow: Encourage them to measure how much water flows through different parts of the pathway in a specific time. Use measuring cups or containers with volume markings.
3. Understanding Pressure and Velocity:
Obstruction Experiment: Introduce an obstruction (like partially covering the end of a pipe) to show how it affects water flow. Discuss how it increases pressure before the obstruction and how it changes velocity after the obstruction is removed.
Exploration: Try different pipe diameters to show how narrower pipes increase pressure and affect water speed compared to wider ones.
4. Playful Learning:
Add Props: Introduce toy boats or objects that can float. Let them observe how the movement of water affects these objects differently based on velocity and pressure.
Labeling: Add stickers or draw markings on pipes to label where water flows fastest or slowest. This visual aid helps in understanding differences in velocity.
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Ask Questions/Discussion
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Family Connection
- Look at the pips/plumbing in your house. What type of pipes do you have? Can you follow the jorey of the water?
- Ask your parents of a time when something got stuck in a pipe? What did we do to fix it? What was it?
- Discuss as a family why is it important to fix leaks in pipes? Have you ever had a leak in your house? What happended?
- Together design and build a pipe system for a water park, what would it look like?
Learn more...
Harness Hydropower Knowledge
How do we get Power from Water?
Falling or flowing water from a big river has a lot of energy. We can harness this by forcing the water through a pipe called a penstock. As the water flows through the pipe it turns the blades of a turbine which spins an electric generator. As long as the water is flowing, the generator will be able to provide electricity. |
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Hydroelectric power plants are usually located in dams that are built across rivers. In a dam water is collected at a higher elevation and is then led downward through large pipes to a lower elevation. The falling water causes wheels called water turbines to rotate. The rotating turbines run machines called generators, which produce electricity.
Oceans can also be used to create hydroelectricity. Those waterpower sources are known as tidal power and wave power. Tidal power is created during the tide, when the water level along the oceanic coast changes. Wave power is harnessed by the up-and-down motion of waves.
Oceans can also be used to create hydroelectricity. Those waterpower sources are known as tidal power and wave power. Tidal power is created during the tide, when the water level along the oceanic coast changes. Wave power is harnessed by the up-and-down motion of waves.
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Learn more...
- Energy Kids: Hydropower
- Renewable Energy Project for Kids: Power from Water
- Teach Engineering-Water Power
- Energy.gov-Hydropower Educational Resources To Get Energy Flowing
- Wave and Tidal Energy
Cleaning-Up and Filtering Water
Fun Fact: One of the keys to achieving cleaner water with your filter model is to slow down the water flow through various materials. What combination of materials will allow the water to flow slowly?
Try These!
Questions
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Experimenting with Filters
- There are many materials that can be used to filter water. While it may require chemicals, boiling, or other treatments to kill bacteria found in water, children can easily experiment with items that remove large particles and pollutants out of the water.
- Try using rocks, sand, pebbles, nets, mesh, coffee filters, cloth, sifters, strainers and more. Which ones do best at filtering dirt? Which ones catch litter the best? What might you need to remove oils from the water? Is it possible to remove color from water?
In-Depth Discussion
- An important part of these water filter experiments is also making sure that children realize that even though their water looks clean and clear, it is not safe to drink. Depending where you got your water, there are lots of tiny bits of bacteria and maybe even bugs, that we cannot see. When water is properly cleaned all of those extra things in the water, that can make us sick, are removed.
- If you have a microscope, you could look at the dirty and clean water on a slide to compare. This would also be a great opportunity to show children the microscopic things in the water. Or you could compare the water you filtered with drinking water
Family Connection: What can you do to help?
Learn more...
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Questions/Discussion
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Natural Sources: Groundwater
Try This
- Learn how how careless use and disposal of harmful contaminants above the ground can potentially end up in the drinking water below the ground -Build an Aquifer
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Family Connection
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Learn more...
- Groundwater Foundation-Ways To Preserve And Protect Groundwater
- EPA-How Can You Help Protect Source Water?
- Sensorex-Groundwater vs. Surface Water – What’s the Difference?
Conserve Water Together
Fun Fact: How does the amount of water it takes to grow broccoli compare to strawberries?
On an area of land the size of a football field: 81,000 gallons of water for 15,000 heads of broccoli, 1.1 million gallons of water for 1 million almonds, 200,000 gallons of water for 500,000 strawberries
Try This!
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Learn more...
- Kids in other countries have to walk a long way to get water and why it’s important that we don’t waste this resource.-A Global STEM Activity & Family Service Project
- EPA-WaterSense for Kidswww.epa.gov/watersense/watersense-kids
- Tip the Tank Game
- Use the Water Footprint Calculator to find out how your diet affects your personal water footprint.
Introducing and Discussing Water Conservation
- Understanding the Importance of Water: Begin your water conservation journey by discussing with your students the fundamental role water plays in our lives. Share age-appropriate information about the water cycle, emphasizing the finite nature of this invaluable resource. Encourage questions and curiosity to lay the groundwork for a deeper understanding.
- Teaching the ABCs of Water Conservation: Introduce the concept of water conservation using simple language and relatable examples. Discuss daily activities where water is used, such as washing hands or watering plants, and brainstorm ways to do these activities more responsibly. Consider creating a classroom pledge where children commit to small actions like turning off taps when not in use.
- Interactive Learning through Play: Children learn best through play, so incorporate water-saving games into your lessons. From counting water drops to matching water-related images, turn the learning experience into an interactive and enjoyable adventure. These games not only educate but also instill a sense of responsibility and fun in water conservation.
- Hands-On Activities for Sustainability: Engage your students in hands-on, eco-friendly projects to deepen their understanding of sustainability. Planting a classroom garden, creating recycled watering cans, or designing water-wise posters can instill a sense of pride and accomplishment while promoting the importance of caring for our environment.
- Aqua, the Classroom Water Ambassador: Introduce Aqua, a friendly water droplet character, as the class mascot. Make Aqua the ambassador for water-saving initiatives, and encourage students to share their water-saving achievements or ideas with Aqua. This personification can make the concept more relatable and enjoyable for young minds.
- Educational Resources and Visual Aids: Utilize age-appropriate resources and visual aids to enhance your teaching. Incorporate videos, storybooks, and educational posters that highlight the significance of water conservation. These tools can serve as valuable supplements to your lessons and capture the attention of young learners.
- Understanding Water's Role in Food Production: Begin by introducing the concept of water's role in growing the food we eat. Discuss how fruits, vegetables, and grains need water to grow and thrive. What about livestock? How much water is needed in animal agriculture? Engage students in conversations about the journey of food from farm to table, emphasizing the essential role of water in this process and whys we can eat more sustainably. Encourage discussions about making sustainable food choices. Discuss the benefits of local produce, seasonal eating, and the impact of food transportation on water resources. Empower students to make small changes, like choosing water-efficient crops, reducing food waste, reducing animal consumption, as a part of their commitment to water-conscious living.
- Field Trips and Guest Speakers: Organize field trips or invite local experts to share insights on water conservation. Visiting a water treatment facility or having a guest speaker discuss the importance of sustainable practices can provide real-world context, making the learning experience more tangible and memorable.
- Creating Water Ambassadors: Empower your students to become water ambassadors within their families and communities. Encourage them to share their newfound knowledge and habits, creating a ripple effect of positive change beyond the classroom.
Questions/Discussion
- What kinds of water waste might individual families and communities be able to reduce?
- What are ways that you use water at home? Do you think you waste any water at home (use more than you could if you changed your behavior)?
- What is water waste? When or how is water wasted? What are some other sources of water waste at home?
- What determines whether or not people have access to clean water? What are the challenges that different people deal with to get clean water?
- What are some water sustainability issues we are facing around the world?
- What controls whether or not people have access to clean freshwater?
- What can happen when we pump too much water out of the ground? What accounts for the depletion of groundwater?
- Does it take more water to grow crops or raise animals? How does the amount of water needed to raise farm animals compare to the water needed to grow
fruits and vegetables? Why is so much more water needed to raise animals? - What other factors might come into play when making your decision about what to produce on your
farm? (my total area of land, my annual availability of water, market prices for each product, my personal preferences (e.g. pigs are smelly!), how long it takes to raise animals vs. plants, etc.)
Sample Hydrology Activities
ideas from Science Buddies
More Hydrology Videos
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