- camera (optional)
- chart paper
- clipboard
- digging tools or sticks
- garden hose
- markers
- paper
- water containers (plastic buckets, bottles, and cups)
- dam
- flow
- water
- waterway
MA Standards:
Language/L.PK.MA.6: Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, listening to books read aloud, activities, and play.
MA Draft STE Standards:
Earth and Space Sciences/Earth’s Systems/ESS2.A: Observe, investigate, and classify the non-living materials, natural and human made, in their environment.
Earth and Space Sciences/Earth’s Systems/ESS2.C: Explore and describe the different places water is found in the local environment.
Head Start Outcomes:
Logic and Reasoning/Reasoning and Problem Solving: Classifies, compares, and contrasts objects, events, and experiences.
Science Knowledge/Conceptual Knowledge of Natural and Physical Worlds: Observes, describes, and discusses properties of materials and transformation of substances.
Science Knowledge/Scientific Skills and Method: Collects, describes, and records information through discussions, drawings, maps, and charts.
PreK Learning Guidelines:
English Language Arts/Language 2: Participate actively in discussions, listen to the ideas of others, and ask and answer relevant questions.
Science and Technology/Inquiry Skills 4: Record observations and share ideas through simple forms of representation such as drawings.
h as water, rocks, soil, and living organisms using descriptive language.
Science and Technology/Physical Sciences 19: Explore, describe, and compare the properties of liquids and solids found in children's daily environment.
Explore Together (outdoors): Making Waterways
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care. All rights reserved.
STEM Key Concepts: Water flows downhill; You can change the direction water flows; Some surfaces absorb water, some don’t
ELA Focus Skills: Listening and Speaking, Vocabulary
Educator Prep: You may want to provide water smocks (garbage bags with holes for head and arms work well) to help keep children dry. Set guidelines about splashing and squirting.
Take children outdoors again to continue exploring the flow of water, this time exploring making waterways and dams. Make sure to review any rules and guidelines with children before letting them begin.
Have children dig rivers and ponds in a sandbox or in another good spot with sand or dirt. Encourage children to plan and work together to create waterways in the sand and dirt. Bring the chart paper from the Talk Together activity outdoors to help children recall their ideas for building.
After children have finished building, help them use jugs of water or a garden hose to test the waterways they have built. Ask,
- How far does the water travel down your waterway?
- Where do the walls of the waterways break down? Why do you think so?
Take photographs and/or video children’s results. Have children draw the waterways they made and mark where the waterways break down, the water pools, etc.
Reflect and Share
Once inside, talk with children about what they observed. Have them share their drawings as they talk about how the water moved through the waterways. Use any photographs or video recordings you made of their exploration to help them recall. Ask, Did the water move through your waterway like you planned? Why or why not?