Teaching
Children About Water
Children
are naturally curious and eager to know how things work. They like stories,
rhythm, rhyme, and bright colors. They love information, particularly
if it’s interesting, strange, or silly. Today there are dozens of
wonderful, colorful books about water. (Photo
by Mark Kemp-Rye.)
Interested
in children's water books?
Click Here!
What’s
on the Web?
The
Internet offers some great water Web sites for kids—with animated
hydrologic cycles and happy little guides, such as Lehigh
Valley Water Suppliers’ three-dimensional Dewey at www.lvwater.org
and The Groundwater Foundation’s
G.W. Gecko, official mascot of the Awesome Aquifer Club, www.groundwater.org/KidsCorner/kidscorner.htm.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a very cool kids site at www.epa.gov/safewater/kids/. All three sites provide animated hydrologic cycles.
Intrigued?
Here are more:
• Des
Moines Water Works—
www.dmww.com/edu_water_facts.asp
• Educating Young People About Water offers 143 drinking water curriculums for children—www.uwex.edu/erc/eypaw/
• EEK!
Environmental Education for Kids—www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/caer/ce/eek/
• Enchanted Learning—www.enchantedlearning.com
• Drinking
Water in Schools—www.epa.gov/OGWDW/schools/index.html
Across the country, millions of children spend their days in schools and
childcare centers. Therefore, assuring good, safe drinking water in these
facilities is extremely important. To aid in this effort, the U.S. EPA
has created a “Drinking Water in Schools and Child Care Facilities”
Web page.
Lead in school drinking water is the current focus of this site. It features
information about the sources of lead in drinking water, guidance materials
to assist with testing for lead in drinking water, and information on
the laws and regulations concerning lead in drinking water.
• EnviroScape¨—www.enviroscapes.com
Interactive,
hands-on environmental tools that make learning about the environment
fun, effective, and interactive: EnviroScape® offers a series of watershed
models, puzzles, kits, posters, and more that tackle language and learning
style barriers while engaging children and meeting state science standards.
E-mail info@enviroscapes.com
or call (703) 631-8810 x12.
• Envision Environmental Education—groundwater models at www.gwmodel.com.
• Franklin
Institute Online—www.fi.edu/city/water/science.html
• Geography for Kids—www.geography4kids.com/index.html
• Give
Water A Hand is a program of the University of Wisconsin -
Environmental Resources Center. Support for Give Water a Hand is provided
by National Fish and Wildlife Foundation; the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
CSREES and NRCS; Church & Dwight, Co., Inc., and the University of
Wisconsin—
www.uwex.edu/erc/gwah
• Groundwater
Adventurers—www.groundwateradventurers.org
This site from the national Ground Water Association explores the world
of groundwater with brain ticklers, puzzles, fun experiments, and more.
• Groundwater Foundation's Kids Corner—This organization has fun, colorful pages of activities, games, puzzles, and information to teach children groundwater basics. Visit their site at www.groundwater.org/kc/kc.html.
• Learning
to Be Waterwise—www.getwise.org/wwise
• Mojave Water—
www.mojavewater.org/Mwa800.htm#Hydrologic
• New
Jersey American Water Works Association (NJAWWA) Kid's Water Zone—
www.njawwa.org/kidsweb/Default.htm
•Project
WET
An interdisciplinary
water education program for educators of students age five to 18, Project
WET's centerpiece is a collection of more than 90 broad-based water resource
activities in their Curriculum and Activity Guide.
Project WET also has lots of fun, interactive games and information galore
for young and old alike.
• Sacramento Area Water Works Association's Kid's Spot—www.sawwa.org/KidsSpot.htm
• Sacramento
Stormwater Management Program— www.sacstormwater.org/fun/kids.htm
• Teach the Children Well is
a collection of links on more than 50 topics for use by students in grades
K-4 as well as their parents and teachers—www.teachthechildrenwell.com
•
Tucson
Water Outreach Education Programs offer three curriculums for
elementary and middle school children: "Da Drops," a
three-part water education program for first through third graders that
focuses on the water cycle, water supply, and water conservation; "Our
Water, Our Future" is a two-part interdisciplinary program for
fourth and fifth grade students that addresses the water cycle, water
supply and quality, water use, and conservation; and "The Tucson
Toolkit" is a five-lesson curriculum designed for middle school
students focusing on the water cycle, water supply, and usage, environmental
concerns, and conservation. Learn more at www.eeexchange.org/tucsonwater
• US
Geological Survey's (USGS) Water Resources Outreach Program
offers water education posters at water.usgs.gov/outreach/OutReach.html.
Their Water Science for Schools Web
site offers information on many aspects of water, along with pictures,
data, maps, and an interactive center where you can give opinions and
test your water knowledge. Visit ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/
to learn more!
• Water Education for Teachers—www.montana.edu/wwwwet/
• "The Water Wizard"
— www.nwwater.com/kidzone/index.html
• USGS Water Science for Schools—wwwga.water.usgs.gov/edu/
• What's a Watershed?— www.ctic.purdue.edu/KYW/glossary/whatisaws.html
For more information see "Teaching Children about the Hydrologic Cycle."
