The Water Cycle

This is Mr. Plop, the water drop, and today he is taking us on a journey through the water cycle.

What is the water cycle, you ask? It’s how water moves around the world. If we didn’t have the water cycle, there would be no clouds, plants, or people! Let’s find out how it works!

It’s time to go swimming! Our journey begins in the ocean.

It’s a warm day, and the Sun is out. As the surface of the water begins to heat up, something starts to happen.

It begins to evaporate. Evaporation is when water turns from a liquid to water vapor. You can’t see water vapor because it’s a gas, but it’s all around you all the time.

As the water vapor rises higher and higher into the air, it gets colder.

Water vapor sticks together and forms water droplets, and these water droplets form clouds. This process is called condensation.

Condensation is when water vapor, a gas, turns back into a liquid.

Wind moves clouds to different places all over the world.

The clouds get bigger and bigger, and the water droplets get heavier and form rain. If it’s cold enough, snow or sleet might form. Rain, snow, and sleet are all forms of precipitation.

When the drops get too heavy to stay in the clouds, gravity pulls them to the ground as rain. Gravity is the force that pulls things toward the earth.

The rain hits the ground and sinks into the soil, or it runs off until it can go into the ground or find its way to a river, lake, stream, or even back to the ocean.

And that’s where it all started. And it keeps going on and on, forever. It’s how water moves around the world. It’s how plants get the water they need to grow and animals and humans get the water they need to survive.

It’s getting warm again. It’s almost time for evaporation! Bye for now!