Water is an essential part of our lives each and every day.
Have a drink – water. Brush your teeth – water. Take a shower – water. Flush the toilet – water. Clean the dishes – water. Take care of plants – water. What would we do without it?!
Although it’s so important to us, it is also easy for us to forget how precious this resource is. National Water Week is all about reminding us that water must be used wisely and respected.
Taking place from October 16-22, National Water Week is recognised yearly in Australia and this year’s theme is water – life – growth. This is to highlight just how fundamental water is to our lives and the environment.
A Conversation about Conservation
So how do we share the importance of water with young children and help them to learn to conserve this resource?
We’ve come up with five ways for children to help save water. You could start by getting children chatting about where water comes from – and not just from the tap! Talk about what they use it for each day, just like the things we mentioned: brushing teeth, flushing the toilet… Then move the discussion to how we can save water:
5 Things Children Can Do to Save Water
- Don’t leave the water running while washing hands. Wet your hands, turn the tap off while you lather and scrub, then turn it back on to rinse.
- Turn the tap off while brushing teeth too! Again, wet your brush, brush your teeth until they’re nice and clean then turn the tap on to rinse.
- If you see a tap, shower, hose or sprinkler dripping make sure you tell a grown up so they can turn it off properly or fix it if needed.
- When using the toilet, only flush once and use the half-flush button when you can. And don’t flush tissues – they can go in the bin.
- Wait until the dishwasher is full before turning it on.
We bet you have some fantastic water savings tips that children can help with – share with us on Facebook!
There’s plenty more information about water sources, some pdf colouring in downloads and lots more to support you in your National Water Week activities here.