The water cycle – explained simply for kids

The water on Earth never runs out. It moves round in a cycle, again and again.

Four steps 1. Evaporation – the sun warms the sea and water turns into water vapour. 2. Condensation – high up the vapour cools and forms tiny droplets: clouds. 3. Precipitation – the droplets get heavy and fall as rain or snow. 4. Collection – water runs through streams and rivers back to the sea.

Experiment: a water cycle in a bag - Pour a little water into a zip-lock bag - Draw a sun, clouds and the sea on the bag - Tape it to a sunny window - After a few hours you will see droplets "raining" down

Talk about it Where does tap water come from? Why is it colder at the top of a mountain?

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