Explore and Look: Streams and Rivers

Materials

• photos of different streams and rivers from books or downloaded from the Internet  

Key Science Concepts

• Water can flow quickly or slowly.

Directions

Tell children you’re going to look at pictures of streams and rivers together. As you show them the different drawings and photos, ask:

• What do you think the difference between a stream and a river is? (If children aren’t sure, explain that a river is larger than a stream.) Then have them divide the pictures into two piles: streams and rivers.
• What is different about the streams in the pictures we’re looking at? What’s the same about the streams?
• What about the rivers? What’s different about the rivers we’re looking at? What’s the same about the rivers?

Tell children that later on they’ll make their own streams outside. Hang the pictures of streams and rivers in the art center. Encourage children to draw pictures of streams, rivers, and other bodies of water during learning center time.