Water Cycle Vocabulary

Why did we make these images?

The water cycle introduces a lot of new terms for young students. Many teachers focus tightly on these phrases and what they mean physically for the water (e.g. Evaporation: liquid water to water vapor). We also include a variety of places where those changes occur.

What makes these images different?

Our images provide visual settings for each of the five many changes in the water cycle so that students can understand context where they occur. We are also sure to include humans as part of those settings.

How do we recommend you use them?

When introducing the idea of evaporation, emphasize that humans evaporate a lot of water in industry and to generate electricity. With precipitation, you can emphasize how extreme weather events impact human health and economies. With condensation, you can discuss crop seeding and how forest fires can increase downwind precipitation. With infiltration, it's good to discuss how pavement prevents water from soaking into the soil. Finally, with transpiration, it is good to discuss how human's changing the plants growing on a landscape can change how much water the plants move back into the air.