Of course it is important in the lives of our children, but it is something that goes further. Lhe relationship that water has with life is so intimate that one cannot be conceived without the other. The first thing that is looked for in other planets to consider the existence of life, is precisely water. It is an essential means for its development.
Given its importance, we must help our children to take care of it and respect it. It is easier for them to do it knowing more about it, knowing the processes that it goes through in its cycle and how we can take care of it in each of them.
Why should our children understand it?
We have all studied this apparently simple process in school, by which water passes through the different possible physical states. Sometimes, however, the explanation arises from the doubt of your son when he sees how it rains. Although the main reason why it is important for your children to understand the water cycle is that they must be aware that it is a limited good, that it circulates transforming itself over and over again.
The shortage of drinking water in the world is increasingly evident. There is more pollution, more infectious agents, more consumption, etc. This worries countries around the world, even more so in countries with war problems. In these countries, more children die as a result of drinking water supply problems than as a result of violence. This fact is one of the most remarkable when it comes to being aware of the importance of our children understanding the water cycle and the concept of water as a limited resource.
How do we explain the water cycle to you?
There are numerous ways to explain it to you, the first thing is that we adapt to your age and circumstances. That is, if the doubt arises from the question about the rain, with a simple explanation it may be enough. However, if we want, we can choose other means.
Nowadays it is easy to turn to multimedia material available on the web. It will not cost us to find a video tutorial or an infogram, explaining the process carefully, so that they can understand it.
Another option is to make our own drawing or model of the process. This will be a good excuse to do a fun manual activity with your children.
If your children are old enough to understand and assimilate somewhat more complex concepts, you can always opt for do an experiment. You can for example create a small greenhouse with a plastic bottle. Your children can see how the water condenses and then fall and thus better assimilate the concept of the process.