When it doesn’t rain for a very long time, the ground is as dry as a bone. That is a drought. Plants don’t have anything to drink and they wilt. If it lasts a few days, then the plants may recover after the rain. However, if it lasts for a very long time, then they will wither away.
Furthermore, withered soil is no longer a good sponge. It becomes hard and doesn’t soak up water. Then, when heavy rain falls, the water doesn’t soak in, quickly runs down, and causes floods.
To illustrate drought to the children, we propose a small experiment.
MATERIALS
- A whiteboard to write down observations
- A few yellow balls
- A cardboard lid from a shoebox
- A chair
Task Description
The teacher prepares the classroom so that there is an empty space in the middle. Children sit in a circle. The teacher tells them that the topic of the lesson will be droughts and their impact on plants and animals.
The teacher chooses a couple of volunteers for the experiment.
One of the volunteers will be “the water source” – person A, and the second one – person B, will be responsible for stopping the appropriate amount of water for selected needs.
The children read the instructions below and play out the scene.
Person A
There is a drought. From all the available balls, take only the yellow ones. Get on the chair and throw them on the ground.
Person B
It has not rained for over a month. The soil is dried out, and a sort of dry shell starts forming on the surface. The soil absorbency is low, so you will catch the next raindrops (balls) that fall from above into the lid of a shoebox.
How many balls did you manage to catch?
What do you want to use them for?
You can consult your decision with the rest of the group.
Write the result of the experiment on the whiteboard, for example:
Experiment I:
- 1 ball for cooking (after the water has been treated for drinking, of course)
- 1 ball for cleaning
- 1 ball for watering plants
Write all conclusions from the experiment on the whiteboard.