Fun Ice & Water Activities for Kids!

There is a lot to learn about water. Water is important, it is everywhere around us, in fact, water covers more than  half of the Earth's surface. Water is necessary for all living things on Earth to survive and is used in countless ways on a daily basis. There are many fun and interesting things to learn about and experiment with when it comes to water.

The Water Cycle

Grab yourself a glass of water and take a look at it. Do you know how old the water you are looking at is? All the water on Earth has been around as long as the Earth itself. That means that the water in your glass was around when dinosaurs walked the Earth. Earth has a limited amount of water and that water gets constantly recycled in what we call the water cycle. The water cycle is made up of a few things: evaporation, transpiration, condensation, precipitation, and collection. Evaporation happens when water heats up and turns into steam or vapor. That steam or vapor then travels into the air. Transpiration is the process in which plants lose water from their leaves, similar to when a person sweats. Transpiration helps out in the process of evaporation. Once water vapor is in the air it gets cold again and changes back into a liquid where it is stored in clouds, this is called condensation. Precipitation occurs when so much water has condensed and is being stored in clouds that they cannot hold it anymore. The water then falls back to the Earth in the form of rain, snow, sleet, or hail. The final step in the water cycle is collection. When water falls back to the Earth as precipitation it will collect in lakes, rivers, oceans, and will even soak into the Earth and become ground water or feed plants. The cycle then starts all over again.

Water in 3 States

Water exists in various states. In order to understand this you should know a little about the states of matter. Matter is a term that refers to everything around us. Everything in the world is made up of matter and all matter is made up of atoms. Matter is classified into three different categories or states. Those three states are solid, liquid, and gas, and are referred to as the states of matter. Some types of matter such as water have the ability to change states. Water can change states as it changes temperature. Water in its solid state is ice, and ice is very cold. When ice begins to warm up it will melt, turning into its liquid state. When that water becomes very hot it will evaporate, turning into a gas.

Water Conservation

Due to the fact that the Earth has a limited supply of water it is important to use it wisely. When you conserve water you are helping the environment. There are things you can do every day that will help to conserve water.

• Turn off the water when you are brushing your teeth, it can save up to ten gallons of water a day.
• Don't use the toilet to flush things like tissues or other small pieces of waste, every time you do you are wasting up to seven gallons of water.
• Keep water in the refrigerator so you don't have to run the tap to cool it off every time you want a drink.
• Take a shower instead of a bath, you will use a lot less water.
• Take shorter showers and if you can try to keep it under five minutes.
• Wash your bike or car with a bucket of water instead of a hose.

Water is a fun and fascinating substance and there is lots that can be done with it. From water and ice activities to experiments, and fun recipes there is much to learn about water.

Water & Ice Activities & Experiments

• Kids can experiment with density by making a liquid lasagna.
• Learn about static electricity by bending water in a science experiment.
• Kids learn all about cohesion when they perform the sticky water experiment.
• Learn about and play music on a water bottle xylophone.
• Teach kids about waves by making waves in a bottle, its fun and easy.
• Make a cloud in a jar to teach kids about water vapor.
• Have kids perform the sink or swim experiment to learn about the weight of water, oil, and ice.
• Teach kids how to do the salty ice experiment to learn why salt raises the freezing temperature of ice.

Fun Water & Ice Recipes

• On a hot day, teach the kids how to make ice cream in a bag.
• Popsicles are a great treat for kids and there are tons of recipe variations to work with.
• Kids love slushies and they can be made at home very easily.
• Water is very good for you, get the kids to drink more by making fun colored ice cubes.
• If you want to make a healthy snack that the kids can help with, almond banana ice pops are a great idea.

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