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Watershed Activities for Kids

All water on land, whether it falls to the ground as precipitation or is absorbed as groundwater, must drain somewhere. A watershed is simply the area of land within which all water drains to the same place. There are over 2,000 watersheds in the United States, each of which is important for the role it plays in providing recreation, habitats for wildlife and drinking water for humans.

Watershed Pollution Model
- Have children demonstrate the effect of pollution on a watershed by using mostly household materials. Line the bottom of a rectangular pan with aluminum foil. Fill in areas under the foil to raise them, creating rivers and tributaries in between the higher areas. Create a basin in one side of the lining to serve as an ocean. Build a mountain of rocks on the opposite end of the pan, beneath the foil. Create a small pile of soil on top of the foil that covers the mountain; add several drops of food coloring to the soil to represent a pollutant. Pour a small amount of water over the mountain; watch the water and the pollutant run together into waterways and to the ocean.
Circulatory System Parallel
- Ask kids how blood travels from small extremities all the way to the heart. Show a diagram of the circulatory system or have them draw their own variations. Let them illustrate the concepts, with or without accompanying terminology, of large veins that branch into smaller venules and then into tiny capillaries. Next, ask children how the water from your closest creek gets to an ocean, bay or lake. Display a map of your state and trace the path of the water into continuously larger branches until it reaches the large body. Examine the similarities between the diagrams, and point out that a watershed -- like the circulatory system -- nourishes humans, removes waste and is affected by human actions.
Virtual Watershed Analysis
- Use free online satellite imagery to locate the address of your home or school from overhead. Take note of the various creeks and rivulets in the immediate area. Observe the types of land in the community and discuss how the property's use may impact streams. Ask where potential pollutants might enter the watershed. Use elevation readings in the online application, if possible, to determine runoff directions from parking lots or streets. Zoom out in the satellite application and follow the local streams to rivers, lakes or anywhere else they may flow. Discuss the ramifications of pollutants entering your local watershed and continuing on this path.
Watershed Address
- Have a child mail a letter to his "watershed address." Have him write his name on a blank envelope. Examine a map of the county and have the child pinpoint his home. Determine together the closest creek, stream or other body of water into which rainwater falling on his roof would wash. Write the name of this body of water on the second line of the envelope beneath the name. Follow the water's flow until it reaches a large body such as a bay or ocean. Write the name of each waterway on a new line with the ocean or bay as the final line.

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