Water, Mud, and More!

Use the background information and pair it with other’s lesson plans to create your activities (stations!) appropriate for your young learners both indoors and outside. Add in KinderNature activities, vocabulary, and book suggestions for a rich learning experience.

Background on water and the water cycle

What lies in our water, in our soil, and in our air affects us now and in the future.

Without water there would be no life. We need water everyday as we are 65-70 percent water! Think of all the ways we utilize water – cooking, cleaning, growing food, flushing toilets, swimming, fishing, boating, skiing. On a broader scale we use water to sustain agriculture, generate electricity, and in the manufacturing process. Raw materials and finished products are transported in the world’s waterways.

wetlandAnimals also need water. Some animals drink water while others get water through the food they eat or can absorb water through their skin. Some animals need water to live or to lay their eggs.

Plants need water to live, some disperse seeds via water, and plants help hold soil in place.

Water (aquatic) environments can be divided into two broad categories – flowing water and still water. Flowing waters include rivers and streams. Still waters include ponds, lakes, and wetlands. Rivers and streams start at higher elevations with just a trickle of water that grow into small channels like creeks and streams. The creeks and streams flow into small rivers which flow into bigger rivers. Standing bodies of water include ponds and lakes, and are formed from water draining from the surrounding lands. Ponds and lakes can also be created by a man-made dam on a river, stream, or valleys.Wetlands are shallow water bodies with underlying wet soils. Wetlands can be permanent or seasonal.

The water cycle impacts the aquatic environment. The water held in the flowing and still water evaporates into the atmosphere and is collected in clouds and returns back in the form of rain and snow. Water flows downhill to a body of water where the process starts over.

Learning if items sink or float is mysterious and fun! The density or buoyancy of an object determines if it sinks or floats. Think of basketball. It’s big but filled with air. A basketball is not dense so it floats. A marble is small yet tightly packed. A marble will sink.

Vocab to introduce

  • Water
  • Aquatic
  • Habitat
  • Wildlife

Suggested books from KinderNature Book List

  • Splish Splash Science, Grades 1-3: Learning about Water with Easy Fun-Filled Activities, Olien, R.
  • Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems, Waldman N.
  • All Night Near the Water, Arnosky, J.
  • Weather (Audubon Society First Field Guides)
  • Weather (DK Eyewitness Book Series)
  • Oh, Say, Can You Say, What’s the Weather Today?: All About Weather, Rabe, T. and A. Ruiz.

Related KinderNature Activities

 

Family Connection

  • Journal about the many ways that your family uses water in a day. Note those things that involve water every day, every week, or only occasionally.
  • Notice and wonder how wild animals use water and where they find water. Is there anything you and your family can do to help wildlife find water?

Important dates – ideas with nature theme

Helpful Links

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