Learning About the Water Cycle

Grab a printable Water Cycle Learning Pack here and then check out some of the water cycle activities and resources below!

What is the Water Cycle?

Earth's water is always in movement through a cycle known as the water cycle or the hydrologic cycle. This cycle includes water moving on the Earth's surface, below the Earth's surface, and in the atmosphere above the Earth.

Water in Earth's oceans and other bodies of water is warmed by the sun, which causes some of the water molecules to vaporize into the air. Water molecules also vaporize from soil and plants- a process called transpiration.

The water vapor rises into the air. As it gets higher, the air becomes cooler and causes the water molecules to condense into clouds. When clouds become saturated or filled with water droplets, the droplets fall from the sky as precipitation (rain, snow, sleet, etc...).

Eventually the water from snow and rain makes its way back to the ocean or other bodies of water via runoff, creeks, streams, and rivers, and the cycle begins again.

Fun Fact: while water may change forms (ice, liquid, vapor), the amount of water on Earth is constant, or at least nearly constant. The water on Earth today was already here billions of years ago, that means that some of the water molecules you drink today may have once been drunk by a dinosaur or another prehistoric creature!

Resources for Learning About the Water Cycle

Activities

-Water Cycle Wheel- grab the template and instructions here.

-Experiment with evaporation: fill a clear glass or plastic cup or jar with water. Mark the water level with a marker or tape. Set it in a sunny place and check the water level after a few hours and again in a few days.

The water level should drop over time. This is because the heat from the sun causes some of the water molecules to turn into water vapor and evaporate into the air.

-Water Cycle in a Bag Activity: replicate the water cycle in a Ziploc bag with this cool activity idea from Playdough to Plato.

-Make a Cloud in a Jar: a simple science activity for exploring how clouds form.

Websites

-Interactive Water Cycle Diagram (USGS)

-Precipitation Education: The Water Cycle (NASA)

-The Water Cycle! (National Geographic Kids)

Videos

-SciShow Kids: Where Does Water Come From?

-Kahn Academy: The Water Cycle

-National Science Foundation: How the Hydrologic Cycle Works

Books

-The Magic School Bus: Wet All Over by Pat Relf

-A Drop Around the World by Barbara Shaw McKinney

-National Geographic Readers: Water by Melissa Stewart

If you enjoyed this post, check out: Composting with Kids- A Fun Way to Learn About Soil.

Follow me on

Facebook

Instagram

Comments

Water Relay Races For Kids

I don't know about your kids, but mine absolutely love games involving water and getting wet in the summer time. In this post I share 5 of our favorite water relay races to play with friends. These are perfect for birthday parties, homeschool get togethers, and other group events. Sponge Relay: For this relay you will need: - 2 teams of several kids each -2 large sponges -4 small buckets or containers of some sort Divide your participants into 2 teams and have each team line up single file at a predetermined starting place. Hand out a sponge to the first participant in each line. Set a bucket of water by each team. Set an empty bucket about 20 ft away from each team. The two empty buckets should be the same size and should have a "fill line" marked half way up. On a count of 3 (or ready set go) the first participant in each line should dip their sponge in the bucket of water, run to the empty bucket, squeeze the water from their spo

Make Your Own Mineral Identification Kit

One of my family's favorite hobbies is rock hounding. We love collecting and trying to identify neat rock and mineral specimens that we come across. You can put together your own simple kit for identifying rocks and minerals with materials you likely already have around your home. In this post I will explain how to put together your own mineral identification kit and how to use it to identify rocks and minerals you find on your adventures. Making a Rock and Mineral ID Kit Grab yourself a printable Rock and Mineral Journal for recording your observations here: Printable Rock and Mineral Journal , and then gather the following supplies: -A pencil -A coin -An iron nail -A piece of glass (an old pocket mirror works well) -A ceramic tile -A small watertight bottle or container -Some vinegar -A magnet -A magnifying glass -A dropper (optional) -Rock and mineral guide (optional) -A small container or bag to keep it all in Fill the small watertight

STEM Art: 21 STEAM Project Ideas

My kids love STEM projects and we're always looking for ways to add more art to our homeschool days, so I decided I am going to try to dedicate one morning a week this year to STEM art activities. In this post I share some of the ideas we're planning to try, plus a few favorites we've done in the past. What is STEM Education? STEM education is a blended and often hands on approach to teaching science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, which are some of today's fastest growing industries. STEM education offers students the opportunity to problem solve and work on real world problems and questions. Sometimes the acronym STEAM is used, to include the arts. Adding art to STEM education encourages creative thinking and problem solving skills. It can also help make the other included subjects more appealing to some students. STEM Art Projects Penny Spinners- Learn about centrifugal force and make your own spinning tops with this fun post from Teach Beside Me. Explo

40 Things To Look At Under A Microscope

Microscopes are a scientific instrument that all kids should get a chance to learn how to use. There are so many everyday things that look really amazing up-close. Under a microscope you can see that objects and even plants and animals are made of tiny intricate parts. The microscopic world is amazing! In this post I share 40 things to try looking at up-close under a microscope. 40 Things To Look At Under A Microscope: 1. A feather 2. Soil 3. An insect wing 4. A human hair 5. An animal hair 6. Pond water 7. Diatomacious earth- diatomacious earth looks SO cool magnified! 8. Cheek swab 9. An insect leg 10. A drop of blood 11. Mold 12. Sand 13. A shaving from a chicken bone- try both a piece of hard bone from the outside and some spongy bone from inside a bone. 14. Kombucha 15. Snake or lizard skin after they shed 16. A flower petal 17. A sliver of wood 18. Sugar 19. Salt- try different types 20. Thread 21. Saliva 22. A s

Learning About The Human Body Part 1: The Skeletal And Muscular Systems

At the end of each school year, I sit down with my daughter to discuss what topics she wants to learn about the next year. One of her science topics she picked to study this year was the human body. Instead of ordering a boxed curriculum set, I decided to put together my own human body unit. In this post I share some of the resources we used for learning about the human skeletal and muscular systems, plus instructions for a couple hands on learning activities. You can find my post about the human respiratory and circulatory systems here , and my post about the human digestive and nervous systems here . The Human Skeletal System Our skeletons are the frame of our body. They give us structure, without them our bodies would be limp like noodles. They also provide places for muscles to attach so our bodies can move. Why Does Your Body Need Calcium? Experiment: This is a simple experiment you can do to explore why calcium is important for our bones. You will need: -several clean

Search This Blog