MORGANTOWN, WV, Aug. 5, 2002 -- Children are naturally curious and like to know how things work. They like stories, rhythm, rhyme, and bright colors. They love to learn, especially if the information is presented in an interesting, strange, or silly way.
Located at http://www.ndwc.wvu.edu, the National Drinking Water Clearinghouse (NDWC) Web site has a new section devoted to teaching children about water. The clearinghouse has gathered a list of illustrated children's books with water themes.
Here's a sampling: Excuse Me Sir, That's My Aquifer; The Raindrops' Adventure: From Raindrops to Rainbows; and The Water's Journey. In addition to the title, we include the author, year of publication, publisher's link, and price for each book.
The Internet offers some great water Web sites for kids?with animated hydrologic cycles and happy little guides, such as Lehigh Valley Water Suppliers' three-dimensional Dewey at www.lvwater.org and The Groundwater Foundation's G.W. Gecko, official mascot of the Awesome Aquifer Club, http://www.groundwater.org/KidsCorner/kidscorner.htm.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a very cool kids site at http://www.epa.gov/safewater/kids/. All three sites provide animated hydrologic cycles.
Here are more:
• Educating Young People About Water offers 143 drinking water curriculums for children -- http://www.uwex.edu/erc/eypaw/
• EEK! Environmental Education for Kids -- http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/caer/ce/eek/
• Enchanted Learning -- http://www.enchantedlearning.com
• Franklin Institute Online -- http://www.fi.edu/city/water/science.html
• Geography for Kids -- http://www.geography4kids.com/index.html
• Give Water A Hand is a program of the University of Wisconsin - Environmental Resources Center. Support for Give Water a Hand is provided by National Fish and Wildlife Foundation; the U.S. Department of Agriculture, CSREES and NRCS; Church & Dwight, Co., Inc., and the University of Wisconsin -- http://www.uwex.edu/erc/gwah
• Mojave Water -- http://www.mojavewater.org/Mwa800.htm#Hydrologic
• Teach the Children Well is a collection of links on more than 50 topics for use by students in grades K-4 as well as their parents and teachers -- http://www.teachthechildrenwell.com
• US Geological Survey's (USGS) Water Resources Outreach Program offers water education posters -- http://water.usgs.gov/outreach/OutReach.html
• Water Education for Teachers -- http://www.montana.edu/wwwwet/
• What's a Watershed? -- http://www.ctic.purdue.edu/KYW/glossary/whatisaws.html
• USGS Water Science for Schools -
http://wwwga.water.usgs.gov/edu/
For more information see "Teaching Children about the Hydrologic Cycle" by Harriet Emerson, National Environmental Services Center (NESC) Senior Editor.
The children's Web pages will continue to expand as the clearinghouse accumulates resources.
Helping children learn about water will ensure they'll grow up appreciating and protecting the planet's most precious resource, the clearinghouse said.
The NDWC, a partner organization to the National Small Flows Clearinghouse, was established in 1991 and is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Utilities Service. Anyone interested in providing clean drinking water for small communities can benefit from the NDWC's free services, which include On Tap magazine, more than 250 educational products, a toll-free technical assistance hotline, and three computer databases.
