Drip Drop Summer School
Drip drop… drip drop… there goes water from your tap! Do you ever wonder where your water comes from and how it affects your local environment?
Last week we were all talking about this at Drip Drop Summer School in four fun filled days with over 30 children at Iver Environment Centre. Together we dived deep into the topic of water awareness and conservation helping raise awareness on how your dripping tap is affecting your local river!
The week began with Sarah from Affinity Water sharing a range of interactive activities investigating the importance of water for humans and the rest of the environment. We went pond dipping, played ‘what goes down the pipe?’ and the ‘river of life game’, learnt about water conservation, and many other things. These activities helped the children to develop their investigation skills and knowledge on water conservation and for example, did you know every time you flush the toilet you use up to 13 liters of water!?!
Pond Dipping
River of Life Game
Afterwards we had a big group discussion to identify which activities the children enjoyed the most and which information most shocked the group. This helped to paint a picture of the key aspects of water conservation the children most connected with; which were river wildlife and what goes down the plug hole (fat bergs and wet wipes). Working with the children’s ideas the Drip Drop Team tailored the following days to incorporate these key themes into the group work and the final the exciting performance.
Over the next few days the children developed their confidence and artistic skills creating dramatic scenes and stunning artwork using locally sourced materials. The children even made their own willow animals from scratch, weaving willow whips into different shapes and decorating with different colours to their hearts content.
Creative Fish Plates
Willow Woven Fish
The children’s learning and artistic flare throughout the week cumulated in an exciting moving performance showcasing their great work, and highlighting the water saving message. The performance began with a parade of all the river animals, showing the diversity of the river animals found throughout Colne Valley Regional Park. Next the audience followed the children through Iver Environment Centre visiting a range of different scenarios which dramatized the effect of water consumption in different parts of the home followed by a Grande Finale song and dance called ‘Down the Plug Hole’. The moving performance was a fabulous success and is being made into a film to help spread the water saving message which is extremely important for the future sustainability of our local water resources. Keep an eye open for the water saving video coming soon.
Drip drop, drip drop, better turn that tap off.
For further information on how you can save water check out our latest leaflets here: https://www.colnevalleypark.org.uk/keeping-the-rivers-flowing/
