Water Conservation with Children

       I’d like to empower you to start teaching our children about community and a good way to start is water conservation. This is an incredibly important topic especially here in the Southern California region and it's really pretty easy to get your child thinking about it.

Water conservation includes keeping water safe from pollution as well as minimizing water use. Teaching preschoolers about water conservation guides them to become environmental stewards rather than taking clean water for granted. Here are a couple of tips to get the conversation started.

Ask your child about all the daily activities that use water. Talk about simple ways to reduce that water consumption. Turning off the faucet while brushing their teeth.  Filling up the tub halfway at bath time.  The list is endless and even the smallest change can help them feel empowered. 

Talk about not pouring chemicals down the drain or outside in the streets. Go for a walk around the block and point out the fish on the storm drains. Explain that water running off in our roadways and driveways makes its way to the ocean.

Give kids a worksheet that illustrates the water cycle, these can be easily found online. Talk about how water moves through the cycle, connecting all water bodies. Discuss how the same water can become part of a glacier, a snowflake, a swimming pool, and the ocean over many years. Carry a jar of water outside and pour it onto the ground to water a tree or another plant. Speculate on where that water may go after it nourishes the tree, and what it may become.

Take a trip to a nearby stream for a hands-on lesson about the water cycle. Talk about where the water ends up, as it makes its way to rivers and then the ocean. Discuss how the water carries trash and other pollution that people put into the water, and how this affects ecosystems.

Read books about water conservation to children, such as "Watch Over Our Water"(2011) written by Lisa Bullard and illustrated by Xiao Xin, which explores how to care for the planet's water.

Ask children questions after telling or reading stories, such as, "What would you have done differently than the main character?" "What have you learned from the story?" and "How will you use what you've learned?"

-Grasshopper Teacher