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Description

Four watery games take you through the water cycle — if you want your team to win, you might need to get wet.

Courtesy of The Scout Association
https://www.scouts.org.uk/activities/water-cycle-relays/

Resources

Buckets
Sponges
Water bottles
Paper cups

What is the water cycle? See the activity page online for information about the water cycle.

Before you begin
- It’s a good idea to tell people about this game in advance, so they can come wearing clothes they’re happy to get wet, and suitable shoes.
- The four stages should be played one after the other to complete the water cycle relays activity. Each stage of the game represents a stage of the water cycle.
- Split into two teams, with the same number of players in each.

Youth shaped guidance - Young people can set up the mini-games themselves and referee their own races.

Instructions

Instructions marked * are adapted to increase distance between players and reduce physical contact - suitable where social distance needs to be considered.

GAME ONE: Soak and squeeze (evaporation)
Evaporation moves water from where it’s collected on land to the sky. In this game, your team must be the fastest to move water from one bucket to another with a sponge.

1. Fill two buckets with water, and give one to each team. These are the land.
2.Each team should stand behind their land bucket, in a line (* standing arm’s length apart).
3. The other two buckets are the sky. Place one sky bucket in line with each team, a short distance away.
4. Give each team a sponge.
5. When the game begins, the first player in each team should put the sponge into the land bucket, and fill it with as much water as they can.
6. They should run to their team’s sky bucket with their full sponge, and squeeze as much water as they can into the sky bucket.
7. Once the sponge is empty, the first player should run back to their team, and pass the sponge to the next player.
8. Teams continue to soak and squeeze their sponges until time runs out. The team with the most water in their sky bucket is the winner.


GAME TWO: Chin pass challenge (condensation)
Condensation is the opposite of evaporation: it’s when vapour in the air turns back into a liquid and gathers in clouds. Here, your team must move water along the cycle into the clouds.

1. Pour all of the water back into one bucket – this is the vapour bucket.
2. The other two buckets are the cloud buckets. Place one cloud bucket in line with each vapour bucket.
3. Teams should form a line between the vapour and sky buckets (* standing arm’s length apart). Change the distance between the buckets, so everyone can fit.
4. When the game begins, the person closest to the vapour bucket should put their team’s sponge in the bucket, and soak up as much water as possible.
5. They should use their hands to put the sponge between their chin and their chest, then put their hands behind their backs. The team should pass the sponge down the line, without using their hands – everyone should keep their hands behind their back.
* ALTERNATIVE: The team should use their hands to pass the wet sponge along the line by gently throwing it from person to person - without moving their feet. Slow and gentle will ensure as much water as possible reaches the 'cloud' bucket.
6. The last person in the line can use their hands to take the sponge and squeeze it into the cloud bucket. They should run to the vapour bucket (taking the sponge with them), and everyone should shuffle up a space in the line.
7. Teams should continue to pass their sponge until time runs out. The team with the most water in their cloud bucket is the winner.


GAME THREE: Pass back (precipitation)
Precipitation is when water rains down to earth from the clouds. Your team must pass water backwards from the cloud bucket to the land.

1. Pour all of the water back into one bucket – this is the cloud bucket.
2. The other two buckets are the land buckets. Place one land bucket in line with each cloud bucket.
3*. Teams should form a line between the cloud and land buckets (* standing approximately arm’s length apart). The teams should face the cloud bucket. Change the distance between the buckets, so everyone can fit.
4. Give everyone a cup.
5. When the game begins, the person closest to the cloud bucket should fill their cup with water, and hold it on top of their head.
6. Without turning around, they should bend backwards to pour the water from the cup on top of their head into the person behind them’s cup. The person behind them might need to bend down, so their cup is low, and move to ‘catch’ the water. [If this is too tricky, have players bend forward from the waist instead]
7. Each person in the line should repeat this action.
8. When the water reaches the final person in the line, they should pour it from their cup into the land bucket, without turning around.
9. The last player should then run to the cloud bucket at the front of the line, and everyone should shuffle backwards one space.
10. Teams should continue to pour water backwards until time runs out. The team with the most water in their land bucket is the winner.


GAME FOUR: Back to base (collection)
Just like fallen water collects in oceans, rivers, and lakes, your team must be the first to collect enough water in a bottle.

1. Two people from each team should sit back-to-back on the floor (* or side-by-side facing opposite directions at least 1 metre apart). They should each hold a plastic bottle on their head.
2. The other members of their team should stand in a circle around them (* arm’s length apart).
3. The person leading the game should put buckets filled with water a short distance away from the teams – they should be the same distance away from each team.
4. Give a cup to one person in each circle.
5. When the game begins, they should run to a bucket, fill their cup with water, and run back to the circle.
6. They should pour the water from the cup into one of the water bottles on their team member’s head.
7. The player with the cup should return to their space in the circle, and pass the cup to the player next to them.
8. Players should take it in turns to fill the cup and pour it into the bottles until time runs out, or until a team’s bottles are full. The team with the most water in their bottles is the winner.


Clear up
Don’t waste any water you have left by pouring it down the drain — you could use it to water plants, clean, or fill a campfire water bucket.

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• Adventure - Activity
• Adventure - Outdoor activity
• Teamwork - Challenge
• Teamwork - Team game
• Teamwork - Team game