Wetland lesson

When we think of water out in the natural world - like lakes, rivers, and streams - we don’t think of water that is drinkable and clean. To us, that water seems contaminated. And yet, we see animals like deer, frogs, and fish living and drinking that water and remaining perfectly fine! That’s because nature has its own cleaning mechanism: wetlands.  

Wetlands are one of many ecosystems in the world that clean water on their own, and today we’ll be learning about them. 

For this lesson, you'll need the following materials: Water, food coloring/dye, markers, a notebook, a plastic water bottle (cut in half at the vertical middle, cap on), and access to the outdoors!

Can you think of wetlands in your local area? What about outside of your community? New Orleans, Louisiana is an example of an area which is almost all wetland. Can you think of others?

Without wetlands, nature would be permanantly damaged, because it takes away nature's ability to purify water. Today, you'll see how wetland water purification works, by making your own mini wetland!

Your experiment begins here.

First, get out your cut-in-half water bottle. If you need to cut it in half now, get the help of a trusted adult and practice sissor safety! If you are doing the lesson in a group, write your names on your individual water bottles

Then, make a little mini-wetland in one of your bottles by filling it with dirt, plants, and leaves. Make sure your bottle is only filled about halfway, and have a natural orientation of soil. This should take about ten minutes, given time to make sure your wetland is accurate!

Next, take out your water and food coloring. Dye your water in whatever color you want! Take note of the shade of your water and pour it into the other, empty water bottle half. Set that half aside and pour water into your mini-wetland as well, giving an centimeter of space at the top to make sure you don't spill.

Now, set aside both water bottle halves and leave it there for thirty minutes; use a timer to keep track!

After the thirty minutes, come back to your mini-wetland water bottle. What is the shade of water now? How does it compare to your empty water bottle?

Take note of these questions and write your answers in your notebook: How did the mini wetlands change the water we put into it? What would that look like for other things in the water, like chemicals or dirt? If the food coloring in the water had been a chemical, would you rather have drank the water before it was in the wetland or after? Why? Given the above answers, why are wetlands important? How can we protect the wetlands in our communities/lives? 

Now, email a trusted adult, parent/guardian, teacher, or troop leader about your findings!
Just click on the email link and fill in the content blanks and email adress on your chosen email platform. Please ensure that you've changed the email address from the example email address to your trusted adult's email address.