Groundwater & Watersheds
Free Games & Activities
for Kids
Groundwater is water held underground in the soil or in pores in rocks. The earth has been recycling water for 4 billion years. The water cycle has no beginning or end. It is continuous. The sun heats up the water from the oceans, lakes and rivers. The water changes into water vapor by the process of evaporation. Plants also lose water in the form of water vapor from their leaves into the air by the process of transpiration. Water collects of water vapor in the sky and makes clouds. When the water in the clouds gets cold it becomes liquid again in a process called condensation. Then the water falls from the sky as rain, snow, sleet or hail called precipitation. The water sinks into the surface and collects into lakes, oceans and rivers. It evaporates all over again and continues the cycle.
A wetland in an area where the land does not drain water efficiently. the ground is full of water and a wetland. Examples of wetlands include swamps, marshes or box. These different habitats have different types of wetlands and different kinds of soil, plant life and animals. Rainforests are dense, warm and wet forests. It is called a rain forest because of the high amount of rainfall it gets every year. Rain forest have an annual rainfall of at least 100 inches, 254 centimeters. As such the Earth's oxygen is created by rain forests. Rain forests cover only 6% of the Earth's surface but contain more than half the world's plant and animal species.
Habitats, like wetlands, are places where plants and animals live. A habitat will provide food and water and shelter to the inhabitants. There are many different types of habitats around the world from humid hot forests to vast grasslands, from icy mountain slopes to the hottest deserts. Different habitats are home to different animals. Every organism has certain habitat needs to thrive. I habitat isn't always just based on a geographical area it can be the interior of a rotten log, a clump of loss or a single cell within a host body. Habitats can change over time because of an earthquake, a tsunami, a wildfire or because of human activities like clear-cutting forests.
Biological diversity, or biodiversity, in a wetland is important to the health of the world's ecosystems. The variety within and between all species of plants, animals and microorganisms and the ecosystems where they live and interact is biodiversity. The diversity of species is not evenly distributed throughout the planet because life depends on factors like temperature, altitude, brain and the presence of other species. We can prove this because tropical regions support more life than polar regions. Biodiversity is important to sustaining life on earth because it prevents anyone species from throwing the balance of nature out of order. Humans affect biodiversity through habitat destruction, overkill, introduced species and overpopulation.
Groundwater Games
Wastewater Treatment Planet Game
Fun Classroom Games with Trees
Life in the Forest Biome Habitat game
Simple Identification Guide for: Habitat in the Pond
Water Safari life in the Biome game
Ecosystem Showdown Forest Habitat game
Biodiversity Forest Biome Games