📌 Note for grown-ups: This lesson is designed for a 7-year-old. Read together, pause for questions, and try the jar experiment if you can!
≈ 5:00 left
Puff the cloud floating over the landscape A happy cloud named Puff floats over mountains, rivers, and the sea. The sun shines. Rain falls from Puff onto the hills. 1 Evaporationwater floats up 2 Condensationclouds are made 3 Precipitationrain & snow fall 4 Collectionwater gathers
Science · about 5 minutes

Puff's Big Trip

Meet Puff. Puff is a cloud. But Puff used to be the sea. Here is how.

☝️ Point at Puff. Then follow the arrows: up, around, down, back home.

⏱5 minutes 🔤6 big words 🧪1 jar experiment ✋7 quick questions
Once there was a puddle≈ 1 min

You drank water that dinosaurs drank.

Fill a glass. Stare at it. Ready? Here is the truth…

The water in your glass is ancient. It has been travelling for over four billion years. That same water once sat in a swimming hole where a triceratops drank. It once froze inside a glacier while mammoths walked past. It once fell as rain on the pyramids. It once watered a fern in a jungle that no longer exists. The Earth has never made a single new drop of water. All the water on this planet is the same water, just wearing different costumes. Liquid. Ice. Vapour. That is the whole story.

Water has a secret power. It can change shape. A puddle is liquid water. An ice cube is solid water. Water vapour is gas water — so tiny you cannot see it. The water cycle is the never-ending trip that water takes between these three shapes.

Let us follow one drop on her trip. Her name is Puff. Well — Puff is what she becomes later. Right now she is just a tiny bit of seawater. But she dreams of flying.

Sunlight streaming into ancient blue ocean water

Is this really true?

Yes! Scientists measure the age of Earth's water at about 4.6 billion years. The water cycle started before life existed. Every drop you touch is older than every animal, every tree, every mountain. You are drinking time itself.

0%

of Earth's water is in the sea. It is salty.

0%

of you is water. You are mostly water!

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kg — the weight of one big cloud. Like 100 elephants. It still floats!

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new drops made. Earth recycles every single one.

Puff's four stops≈ 2½ min

Follow Puff around the loop

1 2 3 4 evaporationcondensation precipitationcollection

Follow the red puff. She never stops.

1

Evaporation

e · vap · o · RAY · shun

The sun is a giant heater. It warms the sea, the lake, the river, the puddle outside your door. Tiny bits of water get so warm they shake free. They float up into the sky. You cannot see them because they are too small. This invisible water is called water vapour. Puff is now vapour. She is flying!

Feel itWet your finger. Blow on it gently. It feels cold! The water left your skin and went into the air. You just made evaporation happen.
Puff says: "I'm invisible now! Whoosh! I can fly!"
2

Condensation

con · den · SAY · shun

Up, up, up goes the vapour. Higher means colder. The cold air squeezes the vapour back into tiny drops. The drops need something to land on — a speck of dust, a grain of pollen, a tiny bit of salt. A million tiny drops huddle together and you can finally see them. They make a cloud. Puff is now a cloud. She is Puff!

Try itBreathe on a cold window. Your warm breath hits the cold glass and turns into tiny drops. You just made a window cloud!
Puff says: "Brrr! Huddle close, everybody!"
3

Precipitation

pre · sip · i · TAY · shun

Inside the cloud, tiny drops bump and merge. They grow bigger. Bigger. BIGGER. Soon they are too heavy for the air to hold. They fall! Down comes rain. If the air is very cold, it comes as snow, sleet, or hail. Grown-ups call this precipitation. It is the longest word in this lesson. Say it three times fast!

ThinkWhy is rain not salty even when it falls near the sea? Because the salt never went up. Only the fresh water evaporated. The sea kept its salt.
Puff says: "Wheeee — SPLASH! I'm back!"
4

Collection

col · LEK · shun

The water lands on hills, fields, rooftops, roads. Some soaks into the ground and hides underground. Some joins other drops. Together they rush down streams, rivers, and waterfalls. The water gathers. It collects in lakes, glaciers, and the sea. Some of it waits in ice for thousands of years. Puff is back where she started — in the sea. But she is not done.

ObserveNext time it rains, watch where the water goes. Follow one stream of rain down the road. That is collection happening right in front of you.
Puff says: "Best water slide ever! Again!"
And then…≈ 30 sec

Round and round forever

The sun still shines. Puff warms up. She rises again. There is no beginning. There is no end. That is why it is called a cycle. One full trip can take a few days. It can take thousands of years. But Puff never stops moving. The sun warms. The sky cools. The rain falls. The rivers carry. The sea waits. Then it all happens again.

Up as vapour · cold cloud · down as rain · river to sea. Again! Again! Again!

Look around you≈ 45 sec

The cycle is hiding in your house

You do not need mountains and oceans to see the water cycle. It is right here. Point at these. Ask: which stop is that?

A puddle on pavement drying in the sun
Evaporation

The vanishing puddle

Rain came overnight. By lunch the puddle is gone. Where did it go? Up into the sky as vapour.

Steam rising from a boiling kettle
Condensation

Kettle cloud

Hot vapour hits the cold kitchen window. It turns back into tiny drops. That is a cloud on a small scale!

A cold glass covered in water droplets
Condensation

The sweating glass

Those drops did not leak out. They came in from the air. Cold glass turned invisible vapour into visible water.

Glistening dew drops on grass at sunrise
Precipitation

Dew on the lawn

Morning dew is water that fell from the air onto cold grass. It is like very gentle rain.

Snow on a mountain melting into a stream
Collection

Snow keeps water safe

Mountains store snow all winter. In spring, the snow melts and feeds rivers. That is collection in slow motion.

Wavy steam rising off a wet road after a shower
Evaporation

Road steam

After rain, the sun hits the wet road. You can see the water rise. That is evaporation in action.

Make a mini cycle≈ 1 min

A water cycle in a jar

You need: a big glass jar, a smaller cup, cling film, a rubber band, a small pebble, warm water, and a sunny windowsill.

  1. Pour warm water into the big jar — about two fingers deep. Ask a grown-up to help.
  2. Place the small cup in the centre of the jar. Keep the inside of the cup dry.
  3. Stretch cling film tightly over the jar mouth. Secure it with the rubber band.
  4. Set the pebble on top of the film, right above the cup. The film dips down like a hammock.
  5. Put the jar in the sun. Wait one hour. Look inside without lifting the film.
  6. You will see mist on the film. Then drops slide down the dip and fall into the cup. You made rain!
A glass jar covered with cling film sitting in bright sunlight

What you're watching

The sun warms the water. It rises as vapour — that is the mist. It hits the cool film and turns back into drops. The drops slide down the dip and fall into the cup. The cup is your mini sea. Same four stops Puff took. You just made the whole cycle happen in a jar!

⚠️ Use warm tap water. Never use boiling water. Never use water straight from a kettle — it can crack the glass.

Seven quick questions≈ 1 min

Can you remember Puff's trip?

Say the answers out loud or tap them. Puff will keep score.

What does the sun do to a puddle?

🤔 Think: what happens to a puddle when the sun shines on it?

Water vapour is…

🤔 Try again. It is the invisible part.

When vapour gets cold high up, it becomes…

🤔 Look up. What is in the sky?

Rain, snow, sleet and hail falling from clouds is called…

🤔 Which word means water falling?

After rain lands on the ground, where does it go?

🤔 Water does not disappear. It moves somewhere. Where?

Is the water in your glass new or old?

🤔 Think: does Earth make new water, or reuse old water?

What is a cloud made of?

🤔 What appears on cold glass when you breathe on it?
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Answer the questions. Puff is watching!

Word banktap to hear it

The big words

Water vapour

WAH · ter VAY · pur

Water turned into gas. It floats in the air. You cannot see it.

🔊 Hear it

Evaporation

e · vap · o · RAY · shun

The sun warms water. It rises as invisible vapour.

🔊 Hear it

Condensation

con · den · SAY · shun

Cold turns vapour back into tiny drops. This makes clouds.

🔊 Hear it

Precipitation

pre · sip · i · TAY · shun

Water falls from a cloud as rain, snow, sleet, or hail.

🔊 Hear it

Collection

col · LEK · shun

Water gathers in rivers, lakes, ice caps, and the sea.

🔊 Hear it

Cycle

SY · kul

A circle of steps that repeats forever. No start. No end.

🔊 Hear it