Activity 1: Water Cycle Game
Materials
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30 pieces of twine long enough for a bracelet and tie a knot at the bottom
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Six different colors of beads and containers
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4-5 dice at each station
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6 different stations signs o Animals o Plants o Groundwater o Rivers o Great
Salt Lake o Clouds
Tell students we are going to be looking at how water moves through water cycle in our Great
Salt Lake watershed. Having the students cup their hands together to make watershed models is
often a good illustration tool (thumbs are mountains, the rivers wash over the palms, the water
ends up at the lowest point between the pinkies, and it picks up dirt and contaminants as it
travels).
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Great Salt Lake is terminal lake: no rivers or streams flow out of the Lake
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Three river ways make their way into the GSL: Bear, Weber, Jordan
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Water picks up contaminants on its way to lake
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Salt does not evaporate like the water
*The water only has two options, to evaporate or sit in the lake. Tell the students to keep this in
mind as they do the next activity.
Instructors should hang the 6 station signs (animals, plants, groundwater, rivers, Great Salt Lake,
and clouds) in visible and accessible spots around the classroom. TIP: leave lots of space in
front of the Great Salt Lake station. In addition to the signs, each station should have container
of beads and 4-5 dice.
Tell students for this activity they are to imagine they are a rain drop traveling through the water
cycle. They will each get a water cycle bracelet or bookmark with one bead on it. This bead is
them as a drop of water at the beginning of its journey. This game will help students figure out
where they are going to go next in the water cycle. Point out each one of the six stations. Each
station represents one stop on your water cycle journey.
Hand out pre-cut bracelets with a bead attached to each student.
Divide students into 6 groups and send each group to one of the stations (instructors will explain
how the game works once students are at a station).
There are six stations, Animals, Plants, Groundwater, Rivers, Great Salt Lake, and Clouds. Tell
students, at each station, the first thing you will do is take a bead from the station you’re at right
now and put it on your bracelet. Then you are going to roll the dice and match the number you
roll to the number on the sign. That number will tell you where you’re supposed to go next.
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Do an example turn first: I rolled a 4, so I find the number 4 on the sign and read where
it tells me to go.
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Then once you get to the next station the first thing you want to do is take a bead and put
it on your bracelet. Then you roll the dice to find out where your next stop will be.
**The signs around the room state how a water molecule leaves that station (i.e. a water
molecule can only leave GSL through evaporation.
Students will get ‘stuck’ at GSL and must continue to add a bead and roll the dice until the roll
the number that correlates with evaporation. Referring back to GSL being at the bottom of our
watershed).
Before starting the game, remind the students: they may end up at a station more than once and
they need to leave the dice at each station. Rules - This game is NOT a race. There is to be NO
running, pushing, or shoving.
When the time is up have students return to their seats and tie a knot to make a bracelet or
bookmark.
Ask students to share their thoughts about the game. What did they notice? When all knots are
tied have everyone hold up their bracelet/bookmark and make observations about their
classmate’s bracelets and compare and contrast them with their own.
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What are the differences? Are there similarities?
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Did some students end up with necklaces instead of bracelets?
Discussion: As a water molecule, what were some ways you ended up in GSL? (cloud or a
river). Ask the students, what would happen to GSL if 10,000 people moved to the Jordan
River? Do you think more or less water would reach it, why? Ask the students to share things
they use water for.
Activity 2: A Drop in the Bucket
Materials
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Map of world or globe
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5-gallon water container
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Measuring cups
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Eye dropper
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5 gallons of water
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Small, clear container
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Water distribution worksheet
Show the students the 5 gallons of water in the container. Explain that the 5 gallons represents
all the water on earth.
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If this is ALL the water on earth, where would we find the majority of it? (Oceans)
Tell them that because the majority of the water is in the ocean, we will leave that water in the
bucket. We will be taking out all the water that is from a source other than the ocean.
Ask students to name sources of water. As they give you answers, remove the correct amount of
water for the area (refer to chart in the background section), and place it into the clear container.
After you have removed all the different water sources (other than oceans), ask:
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Why is some this water not useable by humans?
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Discuss other sources icecaps/glaciers, some of the groundwater, inland seas/salt lakes
and the atmosphere.
Show the students the small amount of water that is left for humans to use. Whoa! All of us on
planet Earth only have that much water to share.
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What are some things we use water?
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What else is dependent on freshwater? (fish, birds, other wildlife, plants)
When we go to the Jordan River for our field session, we will see some of things species with
our own eyes and you’ll have to be paying attention to see if you find anyone else who is
dependent on freshwater from the River.
We use water for a lot of things: growing crops, watering yards, showering, washing hands,
brushing teeth, manufacturing, and don’t forget swimming! Since the number of ‘us’ humans is
only getting bigger and we have no way of getting more water it is very important for us to
conserve and protect the water we do have.
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How do you conserve water?