Creating a Watershed in Your Hand

Learn how to create a miniature watershed model that demonstrates the basic geography of a watershed, how water flows through the system, and the impact people can have on the quality of our water.

Introduction

Recommended Grades: K-12

This adapted activity, taken from the Watershed Explorer Curriculum, is a good way to introduce students to the importance of watersheds. This activity is best paired withthe Get To Know Your Watershed activity to increase engagement.

Scroll to the bottom of this page to see a step-by-step photographic demonstration of this activity!

Materials

You will need:

A sheet of paper
Three different colors of water soluble markers
A spray bottle of water

Activity:

What is a watershed?

A watershed is a geographic area in which water, sediments, and dissolved minerals all drain into a common body of water like a stream, creek, reservoir, or bay. A watershed includes all the plants, animals, and people who live in it, as well as the non-living components like rocks and soil. We are all part of watershed, and everything we do can affect the surface and ground water that runs through this system. When you create your miniature watersheds, be sure to use water soluble makers -- as the markers “bleed,” they demonstrate how rain moving through the watershed affects soil erosion and urban runoff.

To create the watershed, crumple a piece of paper into a tight ball. River of Words 2017 Gently open up the paper, but don’t flatten it out completely. The highest points on the paper will be mountain tops, and the lowest wrinkles will be valleys.

Choose one color of marker and use it to mark the highest points on the map. These points are the mountain ridge lines.

Choose a second color and mark the places where different bodies of water might be. Are there creeks? Lakes? Rivers?

With a third color, mark four to five places to represent human settlements. For example, houses, factories, shopping centers, office buildings, schools, etc.

Make rain fall into your watershed by spraying it with the spray bottles. Watch how the water travels through the system.

What did you learn?

What changes did you observe in the watershed?
Where does most of the rain fall? What path does the water follow?
Where does erosion occur?
What happens to the human settlements - are there any buildings in the way of a raging river or crumbling hillside? How does the flow of water through the watershed affect you choice of building sites?

Search Our Site

Search form

Common Searches

Center for Environmental Literacy

Creating a Watershed in Your Hand

Introduction

Materials

Activity:

Contact Us