Activities- Conserve water for the world

Here you will find a list of the activities that we have prepared for you. You can download the PDF version of this list from the bottom of this page.

1. Keep a water diary for the week, recording how much water you, your family or your unit use. You can use these facts to help you work out your water use:
• A shower uses 30 litres of water every five minutes.
• A bath uses 90 litres of water.
• Flushing a toilet uses nine litres of water.
• Flushing the toilet with a brick in the cistern uses seven litres of water.
• Using the washing machine uses 95 litres of water.
• Washing dishes in a dishwasher uses 40 litres of water.
• Washing the dishes in the sink uses 15 litres of water.
• Washing the car with a bucket uses ten litres of water per bucket.
• A watering can holds four litres of water.
• A sprinkler uses 540 litres of water per hour.
• Cleaning your teeth with the tap running uses six litres of water.
• Cleaning your teeth with the tap off uses one litre of water.
• Washing your hands and/or face uses four litres of water.
• A paddling pool holds 400 litres of water.
• Filling a kettle uses 2.5 litres of water.

2. Hold a competition to reduce water use (not including drinking water!) with your family members or unit. You can use your diary to compare.

3. For older members: Visit a water company website of three different countries and find out how much ten litres of water cost in each country.

4. Learn about the water cycle. As you walk around your community, identify elements of the water cycle thatyou can see.

5. Collect a glass jar, some small plants, a bottle cap or shell of water, soil, sand and some small rocks. Fill jar as in the picture and put the lid on to seal the jar. Put the jar in a sunny place. See how the water cycle works in miniature!

6. Conduct a rainfall survey for a week or a month in your area. Research local weather patterns to see whether your results are in line with annual averages.

7. Collect newspaper articles about weather issues in your area or other parts of the world. Do you notice anything unusual happening? Why might this be?

8. Water conservation day – In the morning, allocate a limited amount of water on a camp for you to use for the day. This does not include drinking water. Observe whether you find this activity challenging and write a short description of how you measured up to the challenge.

9. Interview a grandparent or elderly friend to find out what it was like when they were children. What type of home did they live in? Did they have television, electricity, running water in their home? What did they do for entertainment? How is your life different? How is your use of water different?

10. Keeping Water Clean: Discover the kinds of household wastes your family might dispose of through sinks, toilets, bathtubs and washing machines. Make a poster to show what you have found out.

11. Compare the prices of a selection of cleaning products (e.g. washing up liquid, washing powder, floor cleaner) which are made in an environmentally conscious way and compare them to the cheapest cleaning products available. How much extra might a family have to pay in order to ‘go green’ with their household chores?
    

12. Learn from a specialist craftsperson how to make natural soaps or use our recipes below (don’t handle chemicals without adults supervision!). Make them and sell them during a campaign against pollution of a river or pond in your area.

    • Window cleaner
    You need: baking powder and old newspaper. Put baking powder on a damp cloth and use for cleaning windows. Rinse with clean water and use old newspaper or pantyhose to shine.
    
    • Cleaning baking tray
    You need: salt, cooking oil, paper. Pour salt on the tray and rub with paper clean. If it is very dirty heat it in the oven. Polish with oil afterwards.
    
    • Multipurpose cleaner
    You need: 900 ml water, two tablespoons baking soda, one tablespoon soft soap, two tablespoons denatured alcohol (methylated spirit). Mix all ingredients and use like any multipurpose cleaner. This can also be used for dishwashing.
    
    • Cleaning product for floors
    You need: 900 cl warm water, one lemon including peel, three tablespoons baking soda, two or three tablespoons soft soap. Heat water, lemon juice, lemon peel and baking soda together, add soft soap. Use sparingly.
    
    • Lime scale remover
    You need: 1.5 table spoons citric acid, 300 cl water, one drop dishwashing liquid or multipurpose cleaner. Mix until citric acid is dissolved, then add dishwashing liquid or multipurpose cleaner. Put in spray bottle and spray on surface to remove lime scale.

13. The power of water power: Find out how water can be used to create energy. Demonstrate the methods using each other’s bodies in a mime.

14. For older members: Organize a role play game including a factory owner, a government official and an environmentalist. Using the following statements as a starting point, discuss in patrols how you will make your case to the rest of your unit. Nominate one person from your patrol to represent you in the debate.
    
    • Paper factory owners: Our paper factory has been a family business for generations. We need to expand to serve more customers. We bring employment into the area and support local families.
    • Government officials: We must consider the paper factory’s plans for expansion carefully. It brings money into our area but we are seeing the effects of waste and pollution in our local rivers and reservoirs.
    • Environmentalists: We are against the expansion. The paper factory has polluted local water supplies in the past. There is a risk that this could happen again, affecting the wildlife and people of the area.

15. For older members: Find out the names of organizations that are concerned about the health of the environment. Go to a meeting, help with a water project or follow one of their suggestions for improving the health of the environment by protecting water sources.

16. For older members: Write an article based on the interview. Illustrate it with drawings or photos.

17. For younger members: Draw up a list of the things which are different and the things which are the same and decorate it with your own drawings.

18. For younger members: Draw a picture of the water cycle and show where you fit in.

19. For younger members: PLAY! Penguins on sheet of ice.

    • Four penguins stand together on a sheet of ice (= sheet of newspaper)
    • The sun shines and the sheet of ice shrinks (= the leader tears off pieces of the newspaper)
    • The penguins try to stay as long as possible together on the shrinking sheet of ice by holding on to each other
    • The game is over, when all penguins fell into the ocean (=stepped off the shrinking sheet of newspaper)