Lessons on the Lake -> Chapter List -> Chapter 1 -> Water in the Basin

Students use a drop cloth and Koolaid to simulate rainy days in the basin!

This is what you'll need (Materials):

• Large piece of visquine plastic (painter’s drop cloth)
• Red, unsweetened Koolaid® or powdered drink mix
• Watering can with small holes in the spout
• Water

Let's Go!

Procedure:

1)  In a large relatively flat area inside or outside the classroom, unfold and spread out the painter’s drop cloth.

2)  Pretend that the painter’s drop cloth is part of the Lake Pontchartrain Watershed. You need to describe what would happen if it suddenly started to rain. (The drop cloth will collect water like the land does in the Lake Pontchartrain Watershed.)

3)  Using objects in the classroom or on the playground, build ridges and low spots in your watershed by placing the objects, preferably of different shapes and heights, under the drop cloth.

4)  Carefully observer the layout of the drop cloth, and predict where the water from the rain would go on the drop cloth. (If the drop cloth is relatively flat, the entire surface may collect droplets of water; if there are any elevations and low places, the water would be seen at the lowest spot.)

5)  Choose a spot on the drop cloth which you believe will collect water. Feel free to make streams or rivers in your watershed. Have a collecting apparatus such as a bucket nearby if you are in a classroom or use absorbent material such as sponges to soak up water.

6)  Sprinkle Koolaid all over the watershed area. Designate a friend to “rain” on the watershed by gently sprinkling it with the water can. Others should be designated “observers,” watching what happens when it rains in the watershed.

7)  Construct a sequence-of-events chart to describe your observations. An example of a completed sequence of events chart is “Precipitation” (shown above).

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