Investigate Thursdays – Make your own water cycle
Did you know that all water moves around the earth continuously and is recycled over and over again. This is called the water cycle.
Water from the sea, lakes and rivers is heated by the warmth of the sun, causing the liquid water to EVAPORATE/turn into a gas called water vapour.
This water vapour rises into the air and gets cooler, making it CONDENSE, turning it back into liquid water droplets and forming clouds.
Rain/PRECIPITATION happens when water falls from the clouds onto us!
You can make your very own water cycle model with a resealable sandwich bag and a little bit of water. Draw your own version of this water cycle onto the bag, make sure to include a sun, some clouds, the sea and maybe some land or a mountain or you! Draw arrows to represent the changes to the water – evaporation, condensation and precipitation. Then fill your bag with a little bit of water, and stick your bag on a window. Try to choose a sunny spot, so that the sun can heat up your sea – and watch to look for the water cycle changes. The bag needs to be tightly sealed so none of your water vapour escapes!
We’d love to see your water cycle models on your windows so send us your photos for us to share on Show and Tell Fridays!
Teachers – we also explore the water cycle and lots more water investigations, including real life problems faced by infrastructure engineers in our Water STEM Challenge project. Find out more information here https://www.s4a.org.uk/stem-challenge/ or speak to Kirsty our STEM Engagement Manager at kirsty@s4a.org.uk.
