Water is the cradle of life and humanity's closest companion. However, our relationship with this “old friend” doesn't seem as close as we might think — data shows that nearly 70% of primary and middle school students in China fail to meet the daily water intake standard. Water health shouldn't be just a line in a textbook.
On 12th June, Shanghai Roots & Shoots, together with volunteers from JAS, visited Tangwan Migrant School to deliver a lively water health lesson to fourth-grade students. Before the lesson, the volunteers received a thorough training about water health curriculum --- from the body’s water composition to the current state of global water resources, and from health drinking habits to water saving tips. The volunteers learnt and took notes, aiming at making “water” sound more interesting and engaging.
During the lesson, students discovered through a matching game that water makes up around 70% of human body. Volunteers then added, “Therefore, do not wait until you feel thirsty to drink water, by then your body has already sent a warning signal. Drinking water regularly and in proper amounts is a good habit.” The next question followed: “With so much water on Earth, how much of it can we actually drink?” The answer --- less than 0.5% --- caught everyone by surprise. Guided by the volunteers, the students shared their tips of saving water from daily life eagerly.
Then came the most exciting part of the activity. Each student imagined themselves as “a droplet of water”, travelling among six “water stations” by rolling dice. They collected a colored bead at each station, eventually stringing them into a unique bracelet. After the game, students noticed that each bracelet was different. And that captures the magic of water: water has no fixed home. It is travelling all the time, it sometimes turns into cloud, sometimes falls as rain, sometimes freezes into ice. As the volunteer explained, “Water does not disappear, it just keeps changing its form. But it stays shortly in our cup, so we should treasure every single droplet of water.”
The lesson was short, but amid the laughter and joy, the knowledge about water health and awareness of water conservation secretly took root in children’s hearts.