Water Cycle and States of Matter
Hey, look at all these big words with -tion at the end. They all sound pretty similar, don't they?
Let's learn what these words are all about. Let's match things.
Evaporation
Evaporation is what happens when water goes from liquid, like a puddle, to gas. What happens to a puddle when the sun comes out? It dries up. But that water doesn't disappear, it goes into the air.
Condensation
What happens when that water gets way up there? It turns into... Clouds! Very good. Clouds are an example of condensation.
Precipitation
What about when we get a lot of clouds. How does the water get back to the ground? Precipitation! Like rain!
Hey, look, a little diagram. Where do you think these words fit in?
Let's sing a little song and cheer. "Evaporation, Condensation, Precipitation. That's the water cycle, that's the water cycle, that's the water cycle, yeah!"
☁️ 🌨️ 💦 🌧️ ☁️
We broke the water cycle down to just 3 steps to make it easier to wrap our minds around. Do you know the water cycle?
States of Matter
Solid, liquid, gas - water can look very different when it's a different temperature.
Ice is a solid. Water is a liquid. Vapor is a gas.
Hotter = gas
Cooler = solid
Solid, liquid, gas, water, ice, vapor.
This lesson has layers. Stop when it's right for the child. They don't have to understand everything about the graph to find and match words in it. Someday they may want to make sense of the whole picture, in which case it's ready for them. Showing them that there is more without overwhelming them is the key to learning something new. The familiar presentation will allow them to digest this complex material in an approachable way.
1) Color in the big words.
2) Match the small words to the big words.
3) Find the little words in the small graph.
4) Read the passage.
5) Match the words to ice, water, and vapor to their states of matter.
6) Look at the graph again to see how temperature is related to the state of matter.
7) When can you go directly from gas to solid? (Below the triple point)
8) What is this on the Y axis? (Pressure).
9) What is the graph telling us about the states of matter in relation to pressure? (At low pressure, we can get from solid to liquid at a lower temperature).
10) Think about the water cycle that we learned about the other day. Look at that diagram.
Taking it Further
Where do the different states of matter fit into the water cycle?
What if precipitation was hail instead of rain?
A Preschooler's Day about Matter
I wrote up this checklist for Daddy and Big Sister to do with our preschooler. They played with temperature and states of matter all day!
We also enjoyed a day exploring water. We found an excuse to talk about the different kinds of animals that live in water - because that is what holds this child's interest.
We also grabbed some Cheerios and built some Oxygen and Hydrogen atoms.
We also wrote some poems about changing states from ice to water.
Open ended discussion:
If we were on a Moon base, the atmospheric pressure could be very low. What might it look like to water plants in a low pressure greenhouse?
Draw a picture - design your own greenhouse for the Moon!
#WeAreProblemSolvers
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