Kids' Irrigation Project

Find an outdoor area that's near both a water spigot and a garden with growing plants -- a vegetable garden, if possible. Fill the inflatable wading pool with water, at least 20 feet or so away from the plants.

Bring the children outdoors near the garden. Ask them to pretend they live in a place where there is not enough rain to water the plants. Point to the pool filled with water, and ask them to pretend it's a nearby lake.

Ask for two volunteers. Explain that you are going to pretend like the classroom is a village, and the two volunteers are workers and the rest of the class are wise elders. Tell them the village is to work together to figure out how to get the water from the lake to the crops.

Ask for suggestions from the villagers by having the children raise their hands. Have one volunteer select which one will get to make a suggestions. Have the other volunteer act out the suggestions. Give the volunteers the water can, and tell them that this is the only tool they may use to solve the problem.

Once the children figure out that they must draw water from the pool into the watering can, which they then transport to the crops, have them carry some water to the crops -- making at least two trips. Ask the volunteers to tell the class what the experience was like. Have the rest of the class share their observations.

Make a list of disadvantages of transporting water from the river to the crops using the bucket -- including facts such as the process is messy, the buckets are heavy, the workers would tire out easily and some of the water is spilled. Share with the children that transporting water by hand was the first way villagers figured out how to irrigate crops, but that they soon figured out the disadvantages of this method -- just like the students did.

Select another volunteer and ask her to help you show the children a better way to irrigate crops. Walk the children over to the water spigot. Tell them that in large modern cities, villagers do not have to depend on rivers or lakes to irrigate their crops because they have figured out a way to store water in large tanks.

Have your volunteer attach the garden hose to the spigot, and run the hose all the way to the garden. Explain to the class that villagers run water under the ground from the tanks to the fields, with pipes that act just like extra-long garden hoses. Have the volunteer go over to the spigot and turn on the water. When the water starts to flow into the garden, tell the students that this method is used irrigate lots of crops quickly, without waste and back-breaking work.