Project WET (Water Cycle) Incredible Journey Activity Script

Material:
● Yellow bracelets (pipe cleaners)
● 2 dice per station (18 total)
● Beads (color coded by station)
Location:
● Preferably in the gym or an outdoor area
Duration:
● 10-15 minutes

Introduction: (Provide general overview of the water cycle)

● What is the water cycle? Typically when you see a picture showing the water cycle, you
see rain that falls to the ground and flows over the landscape to a body of water, like a
river or lake, then the water evaporates, then condenses when it forms precipitation like
rain, snow, or hail
● We teach the water cycle as if a water molecule goes through a specific order or phases
around like a Ferris wheel, but water molecules can travel in different directions and does
not stay on one specified path
● The water cycle isn't circular it is more like a net or a spider web, every water molecule
goes on a different path changing into many different forms in no order
● We are going to be doing an activity where each of you is going to be a water molecule
and you are going to move within the nine different locations where a water molecule
might be: in the ocean, in a lake, a river, a glacier, the clouds, plants, animals, in the soil
and in deep underground in the subterranean water

Instructions:
● In a moment, everyone is going to receive a yellow bracelet. It is yellow because the sun
is the source of energy for the water cycle/net
 ● Each of you is going to be a water molecule, and I (Dr. Robert) am going to divide you
into nine groups and place your group at different stations.
● Each station will have a different colored bead, and when you are at your station you are
going to put a bead of that color on your yellow bracelet
● The next step is to form two lines, and the people in front are going to roll the dice
● Now I am going to divide you into groups so we can start this activity.
● When you roll the dice, the dice is going to tell you what station to go to next. For
example, if you are in the clouds it might tell you to go to an animal or a plant or to a
glacier or the ocean.
● The dice also has the option for you to “fique”, stay at the station you are at and go to the
back of the line. It is important to remember that if you roll “fique,” when you go through
the station again you will place another bead on your yellow bracelet. For example if you
are at the cloud station and you roll “fique” you will go to the back of the line at the cloud
station and when it is your turn to roll the dice again you will place another cloud bead on
your yellow bracelet.

Conclusion:
● *Bring the class together after 10-15 minutes of them participating in the activity*
● Look at your bracelet, and now look at your friends and neighbors bracelets, are all the
bracelets the same? Of course not! Some bracelets may have many different colors and
others may have lots of only one color.
● Did anyone get stuck at the glacier? If you get stuck in the glacier you may be stuck there
for many, many years. This is because water molecules stuck in a glacier might be stuck
there for thousands of years.
● This shows that the water cycle is not circular, but instead like a net and can go all over
the place!
List of Questions for activity:
● Is the script for the activity going to be used after the end of the presentation? Or during
the presentation when the groups are being made?
● During the activity, will we be walking around and monitoring, or should we each be at
one single station monitoring the whole time?