Primary school
We have a range of water education resources for primary teachers and educators.
These resources are free for non-commercial use in schools, environmental education centres and for other non-commercial educational groups.
We have a range of free classroom resources.
Primary resources
Early stage 1
How do we use water?
This lesson sequence involves students classifying water into home and school use, identifying where water is used in a typical day and understanding the need for a clean water supply, and to not waste water.
- How do we use water? lesson plan
- How we use water? worksheet
- How do we use water? interactive whiteboard resource (this resource requires SMART Notebook to open).
Rainwater tanks are a great way to conserve water at school.
Stage 1
The urban water cycle
This lesson sequence involves students singing a song about how water gets to homes and schools, recognising parts of a basic managed water cycle and investigating school water devices.
- The urban water cycle lesson plan
- How water gets to us song
- How does water get to our tap? worksheet
- The urban water cycle interactive whiteboard resource (this resource requires SMART Notebook to open)
Using water in the classroom is part of the urban water cycle.
Stage 2
Does your school have a purple tap?
This lesson involves students identifying purple taps that represent the availability of recycled water. Students will also learn about the uses of recycled water.
- Recycled water lesson plan
- Does your school have purple taps? information booklet
- How do we clean recycled water? worksheet
- Recycled water interactive whiteboard resource (this resource requires SMART Notebook to open).
A purple tap means that recycled water is available at your school.
Stage 3
The urban water cycle
This lesson involves students identifying the processes that make up the urban water cycle.
- The natural and urban water cycle lesson plan
- Urban water cycle activity sheet worksheet
- Making a water cycle model instruction sheet
- The water cycle worksheet
- Make a cloud classroom demonstration
- The urban water cycle interactive whiteboard resource (this resource requires SMART Notebook to open).
Our Stage 3 resources help students learn about the natural and urban water cycles.
Every Drop Counts teaching package
We provide an Every Drop Counts teaching package to schools in our area of operations.
The package supports water education programs across Stages 2 to 3 of the curriculum.
An Every Drop Counts teaching package includes:
- lesson plans for completing a school water audit in which students will learn how to read a water meter and monitor water use
- flow cups to measure the flow rate of your taps as part of the water audit
- water for life dominoes and memory card games.
To make our resources go further, we limit the amount of teaching packages that we send to each school.
We can provide free resources for doing a water audit at school.
More water education resources
The Australian Water Association has a range of water related resources that are suitable for school children through to adults. Find out more about these teacher resources.
Water games
Play these games from around the world to find out more about water and how important it is to all of us.
Have fun and learn about the fascinating water cycle with these games and activities.
Water cycle quiz (Earthguide)
Explore a water cycle diagram and test your knowledge about the water cycle in this interactive diagram.
Thirstin's water cycle (United States Environmental Protection Agency)
Explore the different parts of the water cycle with Thirstin the water cup.
Natural Water Cycle (South East Water)
Help Whoosh the water drop use the warmth of the sun to move water through the natural water cycle.
Ollie Saves the Planet (Sustain Ability International)
Join Ollie and his friends as he learns to live sustainably by reducing, reusing, recycling and rethinking what he does with water, waste, energy, air and biodiversity.
Catchment Detox (ABC Science)
Find out just how hard it is to manage a river catchment with climate change, increased demand for water and environmental problems putting our rivers under stress. Are you up for the challenge?