Using stories to teach science concept

I was suggested to teach science to the kids by using stories as a continuation on the previous lesson on teaching with virtual experiment. Unfortunately, the kids were having their revision and i had to cancel my lesson instead.

Anyway, this is what I planned to do.We can use stories to teach science to young kids. This a wonderful story about the water cycle for young children without the big words: condensation, evaporation and precipitation. These big words then can be gently introduced after the story.

Activity #1: Online Story: To the Mountain and Back - Drippy the Raindrop by - The Water Cycle by Joel Kimball



Drippy the Raindrop is also a great introduction of how wonderful and important is water as a resource. They will fall in love with this wonderful character as they join him in his wonderful adventure!


The story of Drippy will speak very clearly to the children about what happens in the water cycle.

Activity #2: Discuss the Water Cycle - Drippy the Raindrop & The Water Cycle at Kidzone's
After reading the story, casually go over the four stages of the cycle. For more specific information please visit : The Water Cycle -- keep it very simple and for very young children (2 - 4) you can even skip the big words and concentrate on the process using Drippy as part of the discussion.

Materials: KidZone: The Water Cycle Color Posters & Coloring Pages
For this discussion you may want to use and display the KidZone's Water Cycle Posters found at the bottom of the page in the link provided. Also read the content of the display posters that suggest different activities (boiling some water to see evaporation, for example) You can also put some of the pages together for a fun coloring book!

1. Evaporation: Drippy evaporates. Why? The heat of the sun causes him to evaporate and become a vapor that goes up and he becomes part of the cloud. (illustrate: boil some water in a kettle so children can see the vapor rising).

2. Condensation: Drippy is now in the cloud and meets another raindrop who has also evaporated -- Captain Salty. While in the cloud, it is colder and Drippy is condensing and turns into water again (read poster for activity that demonstrates condensation).

3. Precipitation - What happens after a while in the cloud? Yes, it starts to bounce and shake. Why? It gets very heavy now that Drippy is water - (and all the other raindrops that have accumulated have also turned into water) the air cannot keep Drippy and the other raindrops up there . The cloud bounces and shakes - (precipitates) and Drippy and all the water in the clouds come down as rain drops or rainfall. Now sometimes it comes down as rain, or it can be hail, sleet or snow, it just depends on how cold it is.

4. Collection: Finally, Drippy ends up falling on a stream and then unto the river, which carries him back to the ocean and this will happen all over again -- this is called collection. It is important to add that some of the rain will fall on land and become ground water - the water we, animals, and plants use.