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This is an student example of what their Water Cycle poster could look like!

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Pour yourself a glass of water and take a sip. Did you know that the water you've just swallowed is the same water that wooly mammoths, King Tutankhamun and the first humans drank? That's because Earth has been recycling water for over 4 billion years!

The world's water moves between lakes, rivers, oceans, the atmosphere and the land in an ongoing cycle called - you guessed it! - the water cycle. As it goes through this continuous system, it can be a liquid (water), a gas (vapour) or a solid (ice).

So, are all you budding young geographers ready to learn some splashing new facts? Then join NG KiDS as we take a look at the different stages of the wonderful water cycle...

Energy from the sun heats up the surface of the Earth, causing the temperature of the water in our rivers, lakes and oceans to rise. When this happens, some of the water "evaporates" into the air, turning into a gas called " vapour". Plants and trees also lose water to the atmosphere through their leaves. This process is known as " transpiration ".

As water vapour rises up high into the sky, it cools and turns back into a liquid, forming clouds. This process is called " condensation ". Currents high up in the air move these clouds around the globe.

The water cycle is also known as the "hydrologic cycle".

Precipitation

When too much water has condensed, the water droplets in the clouds become too big and heavy for the air to hold them. And so they fall back down to Earth as rain, snow, hail or sleet, a process known as " precipitation ".

Collection

The fallen precipitation is then "collected" in bodies of water - such as rivers, lakes and oceans - from where it will eventually evaporate back into the air, beginning the cycle all over again. How it is collected, depends on where it lands...

Some will fall directly into lakes, rivers or the sea, from where it will evaporate and begin the cycle all over again.

If the water falls on vegetation, it may evaporate from leaves back into the air, or trickle down to the ground. Some of this water may then be taken up by the plant roots in the earth.

In cold climates, the precipitation may build up on land as snow, ice or glaciers. If temperatures rise, the ice will melt to liquid water and then soak into the ground, or flow into rivers or the ocean.

Water that reaches land directly may flow across the ground and collect in the oceans, rivers or lakes. This water is called " surface run-off ". Some of the precipitation will instead soak (or "infiltrate") into the soil, from where it will slowly move through the ground until eventually reaching a river or the ocean.

And there you have it, gang - the ongoing water cycle!

Water can change from a solid to a gas, without becoming a liquid first. Through this process of "sublimation" our planet"s ice can evaporate directly into the air without melting!

Be sure to check out our water conservation primary resource. Great for teachers, homeschoolers and parents alike, show children 25 ways to help keep our oceans, rivers and streams clean...

Illustration: Getty Images UK

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The Water Cycle! - National Geographic Kids

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Earth has been recycling water for 4 billion years! Learn about the water cycle right here at NG Kids with clear diagrams and pictures.

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Example of what our class bulletin could look like during the unit!  

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Example of what our class bulletin could look like during the unit!  

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Worksheet for the Water Cycle, with word bank!

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Home page for the Water Cycle topic.This website, presented by NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, provides students and educators with resources to learn about Earth's water cycle, weather and climate, and the technology and societal applications of studying them.

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The water cycle is the continuous movement of water all around the Earth. The water cycle is like a big circle and doesn't really have a starting point. There are 4 main stages involved in water cycle i.e. evaporation, condensation, precipitation and runoff. So, how does this cycle works? When the sun shines, the water from the ocean or lake evaporates due to heat from the sun. When it evaporates, it turns into water vapor and goes up into the atmosphere. This water vapor gets together with other water vapor and turns into a cloud. When clouds get dense, they drop the water back to Earth in some form of precipitation like rain, snow, hail or sleet. When the water falls back down to the Earth, they find their way on the ground surface into puddles, streams and rivers. Again this water will evaporate and the whole cycle will start again.

Water is one of the world's most valuable resources, and one that is becoming increasingly difficult to find in drinkable quality. All water in the world is subject to what is known as the water cycle, or the hydrologic cycle, or the H2O cycle which is the process by which water moves around the world.

Different Stages of the Water Cycle

Water goes through three different states in the water cycle. It can be a liquid (water), a gas (water vapor) or a solid (ice). These three states are interchangeable, as water can freeze into ice or evaporate into water vapor, water vapor can condense as water, and ice can melt into water. The water cycle consists of a number of steps which sees water go through each of these states.

1. Evaporation: Water is found in lakes, oceans, swamps, and soil, as well as in all living creatures and plants. When heat is applied from the sun, through exertion, or by artificial means, the water molecules become excited and spread out. The loss of density is called 'evaporation', and it sees the water rise into the air forming clouds of water vapor. Normally, the evaporation of water occurs when the water hits boiling point, around one hundred degrees centigrade.

However, in places in which the air pressure and humidity is lower, far less heat energy is needed to evaporate the water because there is less pressure holding the water molecules together. The water that evaporates from the oceans is not salty, as the salt is too dense and heavy to rise with the water vapor, which is why water from rivers and lakes is not salty.

Snow and ice can actually turn into water vapor without first turning into water. This process is called 'sublimation', and it results from low humidity and dry winds. This usually occurs at the peaks of mountains or other high-up places, as the lower air pressure means that less energy is needed to sublimate the ice into water vapor.

Some of the highest peaks on earth, such as Mount Everest, have all of the necessary components for sublimation, namely: strong sunlight, low temperatures, low air pressure, strong wind, and low humidity. If you've ever seen dry ice, which has a fog pouting off of it, this is an example of sublimation in action.

When water evaporates off of a plant's leaves, the process is known as 'evapotranspiration'. A large percentage of the water in the atmosphere is produced by this process due to the large areas covered by plants and trees across the planet. While about ninety per cent of the water vapor in the world comes from lakes, oceans, and streams, the remaining ten per cent is comprised of the various plant life around the world.

2. Condensation: The water vapor that has risen into the sky cools significantly when it comes into contact with the cooler air found up high. The vapor becomes a cloud, which is pushed around the world by moving air currents and winds.

If the water vapor cools to anything above zero degrees centigrade, it will condense as water. Essentially, the water vapor will start to condense on the surface of tiny particles of dust and dirt that rose with the vapor during the process of evaporation. These tiny droplets will start to fall into one another and merge, producing a larger droplet. When a droplet is large enough, gravity will pull it down at a rate that exceeds the updraft in the cloud, leading to the droplet falling out of the cloud and onto the ground below. This process is called 'precipitation', or - more commonly - rainfall.

If precipitation occurs in conditions which are particularly cold or have very low air pressure, then these water droplets can quite often crystallize and freeze. This causes the water to fall as solid ice, known as hail, or as snow. If the conditions are in between those associated with snow and rain, the droplets will fall as icy cold, half frozen water commonly referred to as sleet.

3. Precipitation: The water that has fallen as rain is absorbed into the ground through a process known as 'infiltration'. Soil and other porous materials can absorb great deals of water this way, while rocks and other harder substances will only retain a small amount of water.

When the water infiltrates soil, it will move in all directions until it either seeps into nearby streams or else sink deeper into what is known as 'groundwater storage'. This is where the water that does not seep out or evaporate joins up under the ground, saturating the smallest nooks and crannies of rock and soil under the ground. These formations are also known as 'aquifers', and explain why sometimes the ground underneath the top soil is damp or sodden.

When an aquifer becomes too full, it starts to leak out onto the surface forming what is known commonly as a 'spring'. These can often be found in formations of porous or brittle rock, which can crack following slightly acidic rainfall. Should the water be located near a volcano or any source of natural thermal energy, it will form a hot spring.

4. Runoff: After the water has fallen and the soil has become saturated, or the snow has melted, the water follows gravity and falls down any hills, mountains, or other inclines to form or join rivers. This process is known as 'runoff', and it is how water comes to rest in lakes and returns to the ocean. The water falls according to the incline of the place from which it is falling, and when several threads of water meet they form a stream.

The direction in which the water moves is known as 'streamflow', and it is central to the concept of the currents within rivers and streams. These streams and rivers will run off eventually to either form lakes or rejoin the ocean, depending on their proximity to the ocean. Due to the amount of water stored in snow or ice, sudden increase in the heat can lead to flooding due to the water suddenly melting and running off at an alarming rate. This is why flooding can occur so easily during a warm spring following a particularly cold and biting winter.

When more snow falls than evaporates or sublimates, the ice will compact densely to form what are known as 'ice caps'. The ice caps and glaciers located in the coldest regions of the world are the biggest collections of ice in the world, and are slowly starting to shrink as the water in which they sit is becoming warmer.

This happens in a cyclical manner, with no beginning or end. As precipitation happens in one part of the world evapotranspiration is happening somewhere else. The cycle of water never ends, which is why the oceans stay level, there are always clouds somewhere in the sky, and drinkable water doesn't suddenly just run out. At some point, any water that has infiltrated will be released, any that has joined the ocean will evaporate, and even a large portion of the ice caps may melt, releasing water that has been stored for millions of years back into the water cycle with potentially cataclysmic effects.

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The Water Cycle and Different Stages of The Water Cycle

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The Water Cycle The water cycle is the continuous movement of water all around the Earth. The water cycle is like a big circle and doesn't really have a starting point. There are 4 main stages involved in water cycle i.e. evaporation, condensation, precipitation and runoff. So, how does this cycle works?

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This is a super fun and super easy experiment for students to create a cloud in a jar. You really just need the Jar, Water, Food Coloring, and Shaving Cream!

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How to make a Rain cloud in a jar science experiment