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Figure 8.1 Paying attention to different types of water movement
Photo: Sharon Witt.
Featured websites
Website 8.1. Conversations with rain
A fascinating site hosted by the Art Gallery of Western Australia in which explores children's creative relations with weather as a way of potentially transforming our climate futures.
https://artgallery.wa.gov.au/learn.artist-activation/conversations-with-rain
Website 8.2 James Aldridge
The website of a visual artist, James Aldridge, who believes there is an urgent need to develop new ways of seeing and being in the world in this time of climate breakdown and ecological collapse.
http://www.jamesaldridge-artist.co.uk
Website 8.3 Follow the journey of a raindrop
A clever visualisation that enables viewers to follow the journey of a raindrop falling on any of the contiguous states in the USA
https://river-runner.samlearner.com/
Website 8.4 Rivers video
A video for children by BBC Teach which introduces pupils to rivers and their features.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIK3bgjiEEk&ab_channel=BBCTeach
Website 8.5 Cataract of Lodore
The text version of Robert Southey’s poem about a cataract (great waterfall).
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57951/the-cataract-of-lodore
Website 8.6 Rewilding
The story about how beavers are being re-introduced into the UK.
https://www.rspb.org.uk/our-work/policy-insight/species/beaver-reintroduction-in-the-uk/
Website 8.7 Wildlife Trusts Report
The annual impact report of the UK Wildlife Trusts.
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/sites/default/files/2020-11/Impact%20Report%2020192020.pdf
Website 8.8 Creative ideas for using ‘Flotsam’
Creative Literacy lesson for ideas using ‘Flotsam’ by David Wiesner.
https://www.booksfortopics.com/post/flostsam
Picture books
A River by Marc Martin (Templar Publishing 2016).
An imaginary journey from the city to the sea.
Dear Greenpeace by Simon James (Walker Books 2016).
Worried that the whale living in her pond is unhappy, Emily writes to Greenpeace for advice.
Flood by Alvaro. F. Villa (Capstone Publishers,2014).
A beautiful wordless picture book that illustrates a story of calm, flood and rebuilding a family’s home
Flotsam by David Wiesner (Andersen Press 2012).
A boy looking at flotsam on the beach discovers an underwater camera with its own secrets to share.
My Friend Whale by Simon James (Walker Books 2003).
A deceptively simple tale about a little boy who goes on a adventure every night with best friend, a blue whale.
Once Upon a Raindrop: The Story of Water by James Carter and Nomoco (Caterpillar Books, 2020).
A combination of poetry and facts to tell the story of water.
River Stories by Timothy Knapman (Egmont Publishers 2020).
Make a journey along five rivers around the world from source to sea and reveal stories from history, mythology and contemporary times.
River Story by Meredith Hooper (Walker Books 2015).
A lyrical account of a river’s journey from the mountains to the sea.
Somebody Swallowed Stanley by Sarah Roberts and illustrated by Hannah Peck (Scholastic 2019).
A picture book with a powerful message about pollution
The Dam by David Almond (Walker Studio 2019).
A story of the building of the dam by Kielder Water in Northumberland and the last time music would be heard in this place. A story of loss hope and music.
The Flow of Water by Da-Jeong Yu (Big and Small Publishers, 2014.)
A simple text and colourful illustrations introducing children to the water cycle.
The Rhythm of the Rain by Grahame Baker-Smith (Templar Publishing 2018).
A celebration of the water cycle.
The Wanderer by Peter Van Den Ende (Pushkin Press 2020).
A picture book into a marine fantasy world.
Tiddalick: The Frog Who Caused a Flood by Robert Roenffeldt (Puffin 1980).
An adaptation of an Aboriginal dreamtime legend about a frog that drank all the water in the land only to cough it up again when he was made to laugh.
We are the Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom (Roaring Brook Press 2020).
Inspired by indigenous -led movements across North America this book issues an urgent cry to safeguard the Earths water from harm.
Fiction books
Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson (Macmillan Children's Books 2021).
An Amazon adventure set in the rainforests of Brazil.
Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham (Farshore 2021).
The classic tale of Mole, Rat, Toad and Badger and their river bank adventures.
Reference books
Knowledge Encyclopaedia Ocean! Our Watery World as You've Never Seen It Before (Knowledge Encyclopaedias) (Dorling Kindersley 2020).
Dive into the oceanic world in this encyclopaedia of whales, waves, wrecks and wind farms.
Pond and River (Dorling Kindersley 2005).
A guide to the natural worlds of the pond and river.
The Big Book of the Blue by Yuval Zommer (Thames and Hudson 2018).
Chatty, funny and full of amazing facts about creatures in the deep blue.
Water Cycles by Dorling Kindersley (Dorling Kindersley 2021).
This book demonstrates the beauty and power of water in the natural world.
Other resources
Beach schools
Margaret Mackintosh explores how to use the beach as an education resources in her chapter on beach schools in Pickering, S. (Ed.) Teaching Outdoors Creatively Oxon: Routledge
Educating children through natural water
For ideas about how to use coastlines, rivers and lakes to promote learning and development see Horvath, J. (2016) Educating Young Children Through Natural Water London: Routledge
Nature is speaking
In this short video by Conservation International (one of a series) Harrison Ford speaks for the oceans
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM6txLtoaoc
Troubled waters
A report into water quality in the UK and how to improve it.
https://www.rspb.org.uk/globalassets/downloads/our-work/troubled-waters-report
Pristine seas
Find out about the pristine seas projects and other initiatives in the Arctic and other remote areas from the Paul Rose website.
https://www.paulrose.org/
Fascinating facts about rivers
Information for children from National Geographic.
https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/home-is-good/fascinating-facts-about-rivers/
