Wonderful Wall of Water

Title: Wonderful Wall of Water
Description: Learn about water catchment with this creative water wall project.
Season: Summer or spring
Length of Activity: 1.5 hours
Age: 3-8
Button: Start the Activity

Wonderful Water Wall
You may have heard the word harvest before. It’s a word we often use to describe the process or period of gathering crops (another word for food) when they are ready to be eaten.

Rarely, however, would you think of harvesting the rain. First of all, it isn’t something that grows in our garden or field, now is it? Secondly, it isn’t something you can easily gather.

Yet, many farmers and gardeners rely on harvesting rain waters as a way to conserve water, irrigate their plants and even supply drinking water to their animals.

Today, we are going to learn how to catch water with our wonderful wall of water.

Supplies and Tools needed:
● 2 feet x 4 feet x 3/16 inch Peg Board
● A place to secure the Peg Board like a pole or fence.
● 20-pack of 14-inch (or longer) black Zip Ties.
● Clear 3/4 inch vinyl tubing (usually found in the plumbing section of the hardware store.)
● Several funnels
● Other items you might have at home like old pool noodles, plastic bottles, a pinwheel
● Some spare twist ties or pipe cleaners to serve you as temporary fasteners while you are testing the positioning of things.
● Kitchen bowls or buckets to catch and re-use the water.
● Cups or bowls for pouring.
Getting started

Step 1: Find a place to lean your pegboard and secure it using Zip Ties.

Step 2: Place your buckets or kitchen bowls underneath to catch the water.

Step 3: Start by laying out all your possible “gutters” where the kids can see them. You may want to pre-cut the tubing, bottles, pool noodles beforehand into different lengths. Then let your child work out how to fit the pieces together. For example, maybe they want to start with a piece of tube and a funnel, maybe they want to start with a bottle and a piece or pool noodle.

Step 4: Starting at the top, help them temporarily secure 2 pieces to the board and perform a test. Does the water circulate?

Step 5: Create your very own design using all your pieces, testing each new part along the way to make sure the water continues to flow. Adjust accordingly. If you are unsure, check out  this video of a mother and her two children making their very own water wall.

Taking it Deeper
Think about your home and neighborhood. How might you harvest rainwater so that it can be reused? What modifications might need to happen in and around your home to make sure the water continues to flow and accumulate?

Further Reading
For further understanding, check out this wonderfully educational site. They have done a beautiful job of explaining what exactly rain harvesting is and why it is so important.

Further Watching
This is a catchy little song that helps us understand rain harvesting and how we can all do our part.