Without water there can be no life. Not only is water the most abundant substance on Earth, it is also one of the most unusual. Learn more about the wonders of water by selecting from the topics listed below.

There is also a Career Guide aimed at high school learners, that focuses on potential careers in the water sector                                                   . . . view|download (PDF 1.42MB)

A series of Lesson Plans on Water for Grade R to Grade 10 has also been developed in collaboration with ShareNet (a project of the Wildlife and Environmental Society of South Africa [Wessa]. These lesson plans are also available on the Envirolearn website.
If you have any queries or suggestions, contact EduEd by email: wweditor@wrc.org.za

• Alien plants (save our country from 'Alien Invasion' ...)
• Aquaculture
• Clouds (water bearers in the sky ...)
• Dams (South Africa's biggest storage dam is ...)
• Desertification (the greatest environmental challenge of our time...?)
• Drought (the creeping disaster ...)
• Ecological Reserve (Keeping SA's lifeblood pumping...)
• Estuaries (nurseries of the environment. productive yet threatened ...)
• Glaciers (mountains of ice, even in Africa ...)
• Groundwater (more valuable than gold ...)
• History of water treatment (how water becomes safe to drink ...)
• Properties of water (why the Earth is sometimes called the water planet ...)
• Orange River (river of diamonds ...)
• Rain (how to 'harvest' rainwater ...)
• Rivers (sculptors of the earth ...)
• Sanitation (weapon against death and disease ...)
• Water and people (10 good reasons to drink water ...)
• Water and the weather
• Water culture (international theme for World Water Day 2006 ...)
• Water cycle (the Earth never gets new water and water never disappears ...)
• Water in the home (15 ways to save water ...)
• Water in South Africa (one of the 30 driest countries in the world ...)
• Water in the world (the world record holders ...)
• Water pollution  (how you can help ...)
• Water power (water as an electricity generator ...)
• Water scarcity (the difference between drought and scarcity ...)
• Wetlands (nature's purification works ...)
• Useful links (South African and International websites)

Lesson Plans for Grade R to Grade 10

Each of the lesson plans is available for download as a complete document; individual activities can also be downloaded separately.

• Introduction: Learning and Teaching about Water in our Classrooms (83Kb PDF)
• Grade R: Water, Water, Water! (310Kb PDF)
  • Introduction: Activity Focus (Learning Area) and Lesson Outcomes
  • Activity 1: Listening, answering questions and colouring in
  • Activity 2: Making water bells
  • Activity 3: Dancing, moving, shaking
  • Activity 4: Boat building and racing
  • Activity 5: Just for fun: some wet, damp, rainy poems and rhymes
• Grade 1: Water in My Life (980Kb PDF)
  • Introduction: Activity Focus (Learning Area) and Lesson Outcomes
  • Activity 1: Water in our lives
  • Activity 2: Where does our water supply come from?
  • Activity 3: Water, sanitation and health
  • Activity 4: Clean hands: making a hand washer
  • Activity 5: Just for fun: make an indoor rainbow
• Grade 2: Water All Around Me (1.5Mb PDF)
  • Introduction: Activity Focus (Learning Area) and Lesson Outcomes
  • Activity 1: Where does rain come from?
  • Activity 2: Moving and shaking!
  • Activity 3: Create your own water cycle
  • Activity 4: Drip the Drop's journey to our tap
  • Activity 5: Just for fun: create a water animal mobile
• Grade 3: Water is Life! (745Kb PDF)
  • Introduction: Activity Focus (Learning Area) and Lesson Outcomes
  • Activity 1: How much water do I use?
  • Activity 2: A walk along two rivers
  • Activity 3: The importance of water at home, at school and in my community
  • Activity 4: Where is that word hiding?
  • Activity 5: Just for fun: how do carrots drink?
• Grade 4: Water Creepy Crawlies (1.1Mb PDF)
  • Introduction: Activity Focus (Learning Area) and Lesson Outcomes
  • Activity 1: There's a creepy crawly in this stream
  • Activity 2: Even creepy crawlies like clean water
  • Activity 3: Did you know that creepy crawlies can tell us how healthy a stream is?
  • Activity 4: How do we make water safe to drink?
  • Activity 5: If I was a tadpole captured by a Grade 4 learner on a hot Monday afternoon....
• Grade 5: It's Raining Today! (710Kb PDF)
  • Introduction: Activity Focus (Learning Area) and Lesson Outcomes
  • Activity 1: It's raining today
  • Activity 2: Let's make a rain gauge
  • Activity 3: A water study around our school
  • Activity 4: Are we wasting our water at school, home and in our community?
  • Activity 5: Just for fun: for adults only
• Grade 6: The water cycle in nature and the water cycle in me! (2.2Mb PDF)
  • Introduction: Activity Focus (Learning Area) and Lesson Outcomes
  • Activity 1: The water cycle in nature and the water cycle in me
  • Activity 2: Watery word sums, number sentences and fractions
  • Activity 3: From Cape to Cairo
  • Activity 4: Where does our drinking water come from?
  • Activity 5: Just for fun: making a bottle rain gauge
• Grade 7: Wetlands are Wonderful! (1.2Mb PDF)
  • Introduction: Activity Focus (Learning Area) and Lesson Outcomes
  • Activity 1: Wetlands are wonderful
  • Activity 2: Dirty water, clean water: let's design and build a water filter
  • Activity 3: How well do our water filters work?
  • Activity 4: Walking in a wetland with David
  • Activity 5: 'Save our Wetlands' poster
• Grade 8: Water Use at Home, School and in our Community (1.3Mb PDF)
  • Introduction: Activity Focus (Learning Area) and Lesson Outcomes
  • Activity 1: Sweet water and early Nguni people
  • Activity 2: Local interviews, indigenous stories and catchment history
  • Activity 3: Auditing our water consumption
  • Activity 4: The water conflict game
  • Activity 5: Just for fun: making a jet-propelled speedboat
• Grade 9: Water Power! (338Kb PDF)
  • Introduction: Activity Focus (Learning Area) and Lesson Outcomes
  • Activity 1: Water power - the way to go?
  • Activity 2: Water power
  • Activity 3: Marketing our water powered designs
  • Activity 4: Developing a school policy to improve our water management
  • Activity 5: Just for fun: make a jet-propelled steamboat and a water-powered wheel
• Grade 10: Investigating Water Quality in South Africa (1.8Mb PDF)
  • Introduction: Activity Focus (Learning Area) and Lesson Outcomes
  • Activity 1: Finding out about the water situation in South Africa
  • Activity 2: Investigating the health of our rivers
  • Activity 3: Water quality in the past
  • Activity 4: Investigating water quality in catchments
  • Activity 5: Just for fun: your eco-footprint