Raindrop, Plop! Nature Book Club ~ A Party School about Water

Since we are studying the water cycle, we played a fun game that introduced us to all the parts of the water cycle. We had recently been on a field trip, and the organizers planned this awesome game that resulted in everyone having a water cycle bracelet at the end. I can't take credit for it, but I found a few sites that had something similar that I will link to at the bottom of this post. But, here's how we played the game and created our bracelets.

There were 9 stations set up representing each part of the water cycle. We all started with a cord for our bracelets that was tied lightly on one end. We gathered at the station for Ground Water, slid a blue bead on our bracelet, and began rolling the dice. The number we rolled determined our next stop.

The stations and the bead colors were:

• Ground Water - Light Blue
• River - Brown
• Lake - Yellow
• Animal - Red
• Soil - Black
• Clouds - White
• Plant - Green
• Ocean - Dark Blue
• Glacier - Clear

At each station, you would roll the dice and read the selection next to your number. The instructions told you about that part of the water cycle and where the water might go next. You would take a bead from that station and place it on your bracelet. Some of the stations had fewer options than others. For example, the Plant station had the following options:

Plant

1, 2, 3 or 4 - Clouds - Water leaves the plant through the process of transpiration

5 or 6 - Stay - Water is used by the plant and stays in the cells

Other stations had several options, like the Soil station.

Soil

1 - Plant - Water is absorbed by plant roots.

2 - River - The soil is saturated. Water runs off into a stream or river.

3 - Ground Water - Water is pulled by gravity. It filters into the soil.

4 or 5 - Clouds - Heat energy from the sun is added to the water. Water evaporates and goes into the clouds.

6 - Stay - Water remains on the surface (in a puddle, or adheres to a soil particle).