Learning About Water Activities for Kids

Knock, knock!

Who’s there?

Water!

Water, who?

Water you reading?

Hopefully you’re reading this blogpost!

Have you gotten the hint of what today’s holiday and blogpost is about? It’s about something we all rely upon…water!

What is World Water Day?

March 22 is World Water Day. World Water Day is a day that focuses on how important freshwater is to all of us. Today also celebrates water and makes us aware of the 2.2 billion people that have to live without access to safe water around the world. Today is about how we can even take action to tackle the global water crisis.

What is the background of World Water Day?

World Water Day was created by the United Nations Observance. It was first celebrated in 1993 and has been celebrated every year, on March 22, since! There is even a more specific theme for World Water Day each year. This year’s theme is “leveraging water for peace.”

How can we honor World Water Day?

If you have younger kids at home, you can help them to realize that water is something that we explore and use each and every day. If your kids at home are older, you can use today to focus more on how important water is and how it impacts us in so many ways.

World Water Day At-Home Activities

• Make a checklist that includes each member of your family.Throughout the week, have each family member keep track of when they use water, what they use that water for, and about how much (or how long) they use that water. At the end of the week, have a discussion about how each family member can cut back to save water. You can even look online for other ways to save water too!
• Take a quick trip to somewhere nearby that has water. This might be a trip to a pond, lake, aquarium, or even the ocean! Observe how many different forms of life (people and animals) depend on that water. You can chat about how life might be different without that source of water.
• Place a bucket outside that collects rainwater. You can even research projects online of how to build a rainsaver yourself! After your rain collector is ready to go, see how many rain you can collect throughout the next few weeks. How can you reuse that water?

Children’s Books to Coincide with World Water Day

One of the most important ways to celebrate this day is to simply make your children more aware of how beneficial water is to all of us. These books that are listed below do a great job of exploring this through different cultures and lifestyles, through the water cycle, and through a variety of other ways!

• A Drop Around the World by Barbara McKinney
• All the Water in the World by George Lyon
• Drop: An Adventure of the Water Cycle by Emily Kate Moon
• Fresh Air, Clean Water: Our Right to a Healthy Environment by Megan Clendenan
• Hey Water! By Antoinette Portis
• Save the Ocean by Bethany Stahl
• The Little Raindrop by Joanna Gray
• The Rhythm of the Rain by Grahame Baker-Smith
• The Water Princess by Susan Verde and Georgie Badie
• The Water Walker by Joanne Robinson
• Water Can Be by Laura Purdie Salas
• Water Dance by Thomas Locker
• Water: How We can Protect our Freshwater by Catherine Barr
• We are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom
• You Wouldn’t Want to Live Without Clean Water! By Roger Canavan