Water Pollution Game

Thanks very much to Kathy Tauscher, who sent me this game!

Materials:

 Instructor Preparation:

Set up seven stations as follows :

#1 - water with sugar dissolved in it
#2 - water with baking soda in it
#3 - plain water
#4 - water with vinegar in it
#5 - flat sprite
#6 - water with salt dissolved in it
#7 - water with fruit flavouring in it

Directions:

Pass out the paper, pencils, and Q-tips to each girl.  Also get each girl to take a cup of water to sip between stations so that they can clear their palates.  Have the girls use a new Q-tip for each station.  At each station, the kids dip their Q-tip in the liquid and rub it around on their tongue.  They should then guess what is in the liquid and write down their answer on the paper.  The girls should NOT discuss their guesses with each other.  After each station, each child should take a sip from their glass of water and then proceed to the next station.

At the end of the exercise, discuss with the group what they thought was in each of the glasses and give out the right answers.  Then go on to talk about water pollution and drinking water safety:

There are two main ways that poisons get in the water:

1)  They are applied to the ground and seep into the ground water or run off into lakes and streams (herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers – these include mosquito spraying, washing the car, and killing the dandelions on your lawn).

2)  They are thrown away in places where they will automatically go into the water system  (e.g. flushing old medicine down the toilet, pouring paint down the storm drain, using harmful chemicals to clean your bathtub.)


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