Water Cycle

Imagine being a tiny, sparkly drop of water bobbing in a big, shimmering ocean. The sun smiles down, and its warm rays feel like a gentle tickle all over. This tickly feeling makes me feel so light and happy, almost like I'm a bubble about to pop. Slowly, I start to lift up, up, up, leaving all my ocean friends behind for a little while. I am becoming a tiny, invisible balloon floating higher and higher into the big blue sky. It's so exciting. Up here, I see lots of other water drops who also felt the sun’s warm hug. We all hold hands and cuddle close together, becoming one big, fluffy white cloud. We drift on the breeze, seeing the green fields and busy towns from way up high. It’s the best view. I am the Water Cycle, and my great adventure is just beginning.

For a very, very long time, people on the ground saw me splashing down as rain and rushing by in rivers, but my whole trip was a big mystery to them. They wondered where I came from and where I went. A super smart thinker named Aristotle, who lived a long, long time ago in a place called Greece, watched me very carefully. He saw how the sun warmed the sea and made me feel all light and floaty. He guessed that the sun was lifting me into the air, just like steam rises from a hot bath. He was on the right track. Then, much, much later, around the year 1580, a curious man in France named Bernard Palissy had a brilliant idea. He watched me fall as rain and saw the little streams that formed. He realized that all the water in every single river actually came from me falling as rain first. Before Bernard, many people thought rivers just bubbled up from secret oceans hidden deep underground. Thanks to these clever thinkers, everyone started to understand my amazing trip from the ground, up to the sky, and back down again.

My journey never, ever stops, and that is a very good thing for the whole world. I travel around and around to make sure everyone has what they need. When I fall from the clouds as rain, I fill up the big lakes so you can go for a cool swim on a hot day. I pour into the rivers where fish wiggle their tails and make their homes. I give thirsty plants a long, cool drink so they can grow tall and strong, making yummy fruits and vegetables for you to eat. Every time you drink a glass of water, that's me. Every puddle you splash in after a storm, that's me too. I connect everything—the big oceans, the fluffy clouds, the green land, and you. So next time you feel a cool, gentle raindrop land on your nose, just know it’s me, saying a little hello as I travel on my wonderful, watery way.