WHAT YOU NEED: 

• Resealable plastic bag, like a ziploc sandwich bag

• Permanent marker

• Water

• Blue food coloring

• Tape

WHAT YOU DO: 

• At the top of your plastic bag, on one side draw a sun and on the other side draw a cloud.  At the bottom draw some water (like a lake or ocean)

• Pour enough water in to cover the bottom of the bag 1/4”-1/2” and add a drop of blue food coloring.

• Seal the bag and tape it to a window that gets direct sunlight

• Nothing will happen immediately, so check your bag a couple times a day over the next few days and observe what is happening. 

WHAT’S HAPPENING: 

Evaporation, condensation, and precipitation.

Water doesn’t just disappear from our planet. We started by pouring liquid water into the bottom of the bag like in a lake or ocean. That water evaporates, changing into a gaseous state.  As water vapor, it rises into the sky and forms clouds.  In the cloud it condenses back into liquid and falls back to the earth as rain.  In the cloud sometimes the water freezes to its solid state (ice).  It can fall out of the cloud frozen and melt on the way down to the ground. Once the water is back on the ground, it runs downhill until it finds a stream and flows into larger bodies of water. Then it starts the process all over again!

DISCUSSION IDEAS:

Where does the water go?

Since we don't create new water, how many times has the same water been through the cycle? 

What are examples you've seen of this cycle? Rain? Clouds? Rivers?