Hobbies And Interests
Calculate Your Bath Water
Have the kids create a monthly calendar with up to 30 days. They will use this calendar to keep track of how much water they use each day when taking a bath or shower. The object is to try to conserve water by using less each day and using only a minimal amount of water each time. To calculate the amount of water in the bath, use a ruler to measure the depth of the water (use the deepest location in the tub). Every inch of water equals approximately 4.5 gallons of water. Multiply the number of inches times 4.5 gallons of water to see how many gallons of water is in the tub. If the child is taking a shower, plug the drain and measure the water at the end of the shower.
Human Faucets
Get two 5-gallon buckets and 10 1-gallon emptied, clean milk jugs. Create two teams of kids to play the game. Each team should have one person who will be brushing her teeth. Fill the gallon milk jugs with tap water and leave the 5-gallon buckets empty. When you say "go," the kids will start to pour the water from the gallon jugs in the 5-gallon bucket one at a time. Pour the buckets at the speed of a running faucet (not too fast and not too slow). The child brushing his teeth will also begin brushing them on "go." The object is to see which team uses less water. This will also let the children see how much water we waste when brushing our teeth.
Time Your Showers
Place an egg timer in the bathroom while your kids take a shower. If you have two or more kids, let them time their shower to see who can take a shower in five minutes or less and still get clean. This will allow them to play an interesting game while they learn how to take a short shower (and get clean) without wasting water.