Relating Drippy to the Water Cycle

1. Evaporation: Drippy evaporates. Why? The heat of the sun causes him to evaporate and become a vapor that goes up and he becomes part of the cloud. (illustrate: boil some water in a kettle so children can see the vapor rising).

2. Condensation: Drippy is now in the cloud and meets another raindrop who has also evaporated -- Captain Salty. While in the cloud, it is colder and Drippy is condensing and turns into water again (read poster for activity that demonstrates condensation).

3. Precipitation - What happens after a while in the cloud? Yes, it starts to bounce and shake. Why? It gets very heavy now that Drippy is water - (and all the other raindrops that have accumulated have also turned into water) the air cannot keep Drippy and the other raindrops up there . The cloud bounces and shakes - (precipitates) and Drippy and all the water in the clouds come down as rain drops or rainfall. Now sometimes it comes down as rain, or it can be hail, sleet or snow, it just depends on how cold it is.

4. Collection: Finally, Drippy ends up falling on a stream and then unto the river, which carries him back to the ocean and this will happen all over again -- this is called collection. It is important to add that some of the rain will fall on land and become ground water - the water we, animals, and plants use.