I have a fun hands-on water cycle activity for kids. Also, look at my page Free Earth Science Lapbook & Unit Study Ideas for more activities.
It can be used from preschool through upper elementary.
Teaching the water cycle should be a very simple process In the early years.
You can go a little more in depth as they grow which means you can customize this plate activity to reflect what they know at various stages.
Evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and collection make up the 4 stages of the water cycle.
And they are very important because it provides water to humans, animals, and plants.
Besides providing hydration it redistributes nutrients, pathogens and sediment in and out of aquatic ecosystems.
To teach it simply we are going to use a paper plate.
Next, look at some of these fun books which teach about the water cycle.
Water Cycle Books for Kids
4 Water Cycle Books for Kids Who Love to Read and Be Read To
Add some of these living books and reference books to your learning day about water and the water cycle.
A child crouches beside a meadow brook, and a drop of water collects and falls from the child’s fingertip to continue on its journey. Where does that journey begin? High in the sky, rain clouds are parting. Water trickles and flows down the mountain, collecting in an upland bog, seeping through a beaver’s dam, rushing over rocks, passing many plants and animals along its winding way—each dependent on water and the different environments it shapes to live.
The most spectacular photographs ever created on the subject of water appear in this unique science book by Walter Wick. The camera stops the action and magnifies it so that all the amazing states of water can be observed water as ice, rainbow, steam, frost, dew. Readers can examine a drop of water as it falls from a faucet, see a drop of water as it splashes on a hard surface, count the points of an actual snowflake, and contemplate how drops of water form clouds. Evaporation, condensation, capillary, attraction, and surface tension are explained through simple text and illustrated by pictures that reveal water in its many awesome transformations.
With a double-page spread for each month, this book describes the journey of a single drop of water throughout the year.
Meet Drop. She's water! And she's seen a thing or two--even dinosaurs. Everywhere Drop flows--and she flows everywhere--she makes life on Earth possible, and has a great time doing it. Have you ever plummeted from a rain cloud? Or taken a thousand-year nap in a glacier? Drop has! She'll tell you all about it
Also, I have a few other basic items to show these 4 steps and create a craft/science project combo for a hands-on water cycle activity.
I have explained the water cycle on a basic level, gathered a few more fun activities, and resources that you can use to create a mini unit to enjoy.
4 Stages of The Water Cycle
- Evaporation– Water evaporates under the sun’s heat and becomes a gas that is found in earth’s atmosphere. Demonstrate evaporation with a pot of simmering water and how it seems to disappear over time, the steam is visible and helps give kids a concrete idea.
- Condensation– Water condenses in the atmosphere when it becomes cold, forming clouds. You can demonstrate this by showing what happens on the outside of a glass of ice water over time or the condensation on a mirror after a hot shower.
- Precipitation-When there is too much moisture in a cloud water is released from the clouds in the form of rain, sleet, hail, and snow. For younger children, set out little bowls or cups with examples of each in the form of water, ice, and “snow” (a little cornstarch mixed with oil). Allow your child to explore and examine each form of precipitation.
- Collection – Water is collected and held in different areas. For example, places like oceans, rivers, lakes, ponds, and underground. Water in its solid form, ice, is held in glaciers and snow.
Then the entire process starts all over again.
Watch The Water Cycle For Kids on YouTube for a wonderful short explanation of the process from start to finish.
4 More Engaging Hands-On Water Cycle Activities
Here are a few more ways besides our craft/science activity below to teach the water cycle.
- Watch the precipitation stage of the water cycle with a hands on Water Cycle Unit Study: Rain Cloud Experiment.
- Learning About the Exciting Water Cycle with Salt demonstrates evaporation with colored salt to give your child physical proof of the process.
- I love the creative take on The Water Cycle+Ice Paints here.
- The simple experiment of The Water Cycle In a Bag is a great way to demonstrate the process up close.
Paper Plate Water Cycle
For preschoolers we will keep this hands-on water cycle activity very simple with minimal labels but you can challenge older children to put in a bit more detail or even use a wider variety of materials to put it together.
You will need:
- Paper plate
- Blue paint
- paintbrush
- Blue craft foam/paper
- Yellow craft foam/paper
- Markers/paint pens
- Cotton ball/cotton stuffing
- Glue stick
- Scissors
First, let your child paint the entire plate a light medium shade of blue and then set aside to dry, explaining that this is the sky and ground water.
While it is drying, cut a wave of blue craft foam out slightly shorter than the width of the plate.
This represents an ocean or where water is held. Cut a few raindrops for precipitation, and a yellow sun.
Once the plate is dry, they can glue the sun in place on one side of the sky and the wave across the bottom with the glue stick.
Use a bit of cotton ball, cotton stuffing, or even a little ball of white tissue paper to create a cloud opposite the sun.
Glue on the raindrops underneath the cloud you made.
Use a marker to draw directional arrows and label the plate as the water cycle.
If your child is older, they can do the entire plate from start to finish and even label each part of the water cycle themself.
