Welcome to the 2024 Virtual Niagara Children's Water Festival

Get ready for a fun-filled and educational week all about water.

All of the activity centres have been created by industry professionals around the themes of water protection, water attitude, water science and water technology.

The Virtual Niagara Children's Water Festival will be open until May 31.

Video activity centres

• Box It. Bin It. Sort It - Keep It Clean

  Students will learn how to properly recycle and compost their materials and how waste impacts our water systems, especially wetlands. Help investigate what happens to our materials in the landfill and practice your waste sorting skills.

  This video was first broadcasted live, allowing viewers to ask questions in real time. If your class has any follow-up questions, email Niagara Children's Water Festival. Answers will not be provided in real time.

  Classroom activities

  Rethink your Waste
  Explore waste-related games, videos and activities to learn about recycling and composting in Niagara.

  Recycling at Home
  Find or ask your family where the recycling boxes are in your home. Ask to help sort the materials from your home before recycling day.

  Hazardous Waste at Home
  With the help of an adult, go through your home and find five items (such as paint, cleaners) that are considered hazardous waste and would need to be disposed of at Niagara's drop-off depots for proper disposal to protect our water.

• Things that Bite

  Learn about Lyme disease and West Nile virus and the critters that carry them. Students will learn how to identify ticks and mosquitos, how to take precautions to protect themselves from these diseases and how water plays a role in their lifecycles and disease prevention.

  This video was first broadcasted live, allowing viewers to ask questions in real time. If your class has any follow-up questions, email Niagara Children's Water Festival. Answers will not be provided in real time.

  Classroom activities

  Tick Prevention Picture
  Draw a picture of yourself in nature that includes three ways that you would protect yourself from ticks. Label the picture with the protective actions that you have included. Download the tick prevention picture.

  Tick Identification
  Learn about different types of ticks and how to identify them by visiting tick identification in Niagara.

  Tick Matching Game
  Match the different types of ticks in this fun tick matching game.

• Agent H2O - 5 minutes

  Learn where wastewater goes when we flush our toilets and the importance of only flushing the 3 Ps (pee, poo and toilet paper) down the toilet.

  Classroom activities

  Agent H2O Crossword
  Do you know what can go down the drain? Put your skills to the test in the Agent H20 crossword!

  Agent H2O Quiz
  Complete the Agent H2O quiz.

• Bring Back the Brookies - 10 minutes

  Twelve Mile Creek, Niagara's only coldwater stream, is influenced by the surrounding land and soils of the watershed. Declining populations of native Brook Trout indicate that land use changes have impacted the ecosystem. Learn how we can work to restore habitat and help bring back the brookies.

  Classroom activities

  Bring Back the Brookies Modules
  Visit the Bring Back the Brookies website to find out more information. Complete the modules with your class:

  • Module 1: About Brook Trout
  • Module 2: Twelve Mile Creek
  • Module 3: Under Threat
  • Module 4: Taking Action
  • Module 5: How About You?

  Life Cycle of a Brookie
  Brook Trout have five distinct stages in their life cycle. Can you put them in the correct order? Download the life cycle of a brookie.

• Down at the Mill - 10 minutes

  Take a step back in time to the early 1800s - when water power in the Twenty Mile Creek was fierce - and learn how the water powered many mills at Ball's Falls Conservation Area.

  Classroom activities

  Ball's Falls Bingo
  Mark off your card as you watch the Down at the Mill and Nuts about Nature videos to get BINGO. Download the Ball's Falls bingo card.

• Duck Detectives - 15 minutes

  Learn about duck migration, wetlands and flyways! Find out how scientists track (and help) bird conservation efforts and how bird banding works.

  Classroom activities

  Niagara Bird Count
  Go in your yard or local park or nature area with a pencil and paper (comfortable chair and binoculars if you have them) and watch the birds for 15-30 minutes. Take a tally of the birds you recognize or that look the same. Which ones do you see the most? The least? Take your tally data and make a bar graph of birds in your area. Download the bird count.

  Duck Detectives Quiz
  Complete the Duck Detectives quiz.

• Fire - 10 minutes

  Join St. Catharines Fire on a tour of a pump truck as students learn how firefighters use water to keep our communities safe. Students will also experience how a firefighter prepares to fight a fire and what equipment they use to keep themselves safe.

  Classroom activities

  Fire Safety Bingo
  Find fire safety items during the Fire Station video to get BINGO! Download the fire safety bingo card.

  Fire Safety Checklist
  Check off all the items you find in the Fire Station video. Download the fire safety checklist.

• It's a Bacteria's Life - 10 minutes

  Come join us to learn about the wastewater treatment process. Students will learn how we clean wastewater (before returning it to the environment) and the importance of bacteria in this process.

  Classroom activities

  It’s A Bacteria's Life Word Search
  Think you know everything about the wastewater treatment process? See if you can find all the relevant terms in this bacteria's life word search.

  Tardigrades Video
  Tardigrades, also known as water bears or moss piglets, are the toughest and probably the weirdest animal species on Earth! Tardigrades are eight-legged micro-animals that can withstand just about anything, from mass extinctions to the vacuum of outer space to the pressure of the Mariana Trench and radiation 1,000 times stronger than humans can handle. To learn more, watch this video about tardigrades.

  Virtual Tour of the Baker Road Wastewater Treatment Plant
  Want to learn more about the wastewater treatment plant and how the Region treats wastewater? Check out our virtual tour of a wastewater treatment plant.

• Lakes, Drones and High-Powered Construction - 20 minutes

  Join a professional water engineer for an exciting virtual tour of the Grimsby Water Storage System and learn how remote controlled drone technology is used for construction monitoring. Students will also learn about the global water balance and how water is delivered locally to our homes in Niagara.

  Classroom activities

  Walking Water Experiment
  Moving water safely through our communities to our homes is important for us to have access to clean water. Watch the walking water experiment video to try moving water yourself.

  Build an Aqueduct
  Have a bit more time and materials? The engineering of moving water has been around for centuries. Even the ancient Romans engineered aqueducts to move water from where it was stored to their cities. Try out this activity to build your own aqueduct.

• Nuts About Nature - 15 minutes

  Explore the great outdoors along the Twenty Mile Creek at Ball's Falls Conservation Area. Climb the Niagara Escarpment and discover some of the many unique plants and animals that call the Carolinian Forest their home!

  Classroom activities

  Go for a hike
  Go for a hike in your neighbourhood or nearest conservation area and see how many plants and animals you can discover. If you come across any species you are unfamiliar with, take a picture and do some research when you get home to identify it.

  Ball’s Falls Bingo
  Mark off your card as you watch the Down at the Mill and Nuts about Nature videos to get BINGO! Download the Ball's Falls bingo card.

• Rolling To The River - 10 minutes

  Students will learn about our local watershed - what is a watershed, what types of things pollute the water and where does the water go when it rains? Discussions will also include what you can do to help keep the water clean in your neighbourhood.

  Classroom activities

  Where am I in the Watershed?
  Discover where you are in your local watershed by looking at the watershed map.

  Neighbourhood Clean-Up
  With an adult, go for a walk in your neighbourhood and clean-up litter to help keep it out of our lakes, rivers and creeks. Take a tally of the types of litter you collect. Look at your tally when you're done. What items of litter are the biggest problem? Ask a friend or classmate if they got similar results.

  Rolling to the River Quiz
  Complete the Rolling to the River quiz.

• Tap Into It! - 5 minutes

  Learn where tap and bottled water comes from and the benefits of drinking tap water over bottled water. Students will also learn about the drinking water treatment process.

  Classroom activities

  Tap Into It! Word Search
  Complete the Tap Into It word search.

  Water Taste Test
  Conduct a taste test at home. First, chill water from a plastic water bottle and some tap water in separate containers or jugs. Pour a small cup of each water (you need to remember which cup has tap and which has bottled water in it). Without telling them which is tap and which is bottled, have members of your household taste the water. Can they tell a difference? Ask them which one they prefer. Do they choose tap water or bottled water?

  Bottlegate
  Check out the Water Brothers video to learn about bottled water compared to municipal tap water.

  Tap Into It! Quiz
  Complete the Tap Into It quiz.

• The Great Lakes - 15 minutes

  Explore the importance and geography of the Great Lakes! Students will learn the characteristics, locations and names of the Great Lakes and the ways they can make a difference in preserving this natural resource.

  Classroom activities

  Great Lakes Jeopardy
  With your class (or individually) play Great Lakes Jeopardy and see how many points you can get!

  The Great Lakes Matching Activity
  Match the term to the correct definition. Download the Great Lakes matching game.

  The Great Lakes quiz
  Complete the Great Lakes quiz.

• To and Fro With H2O - 10 minutes

  Join a water treatment plant manager who will take students on a tour of the water distribution system. Students will see how water makes it from the water treatment plant to their home and will learn the importance of water towers in their community.

  Classroom activities

  To and Fro H2O Maze
  Follow the H2O through the maze to learn how water gets from the lake, to your home and back out into the environment.

  Create Your Own City
  Using what you learned in the video, design your own city. Include a water source, a water treatment plant, a water reservoir and a water tower.

  Unusual Water Towers
  Did you know that water towers come in all different shapes and sizes? Watch the water tower designs video to see some of the most unusual water towers around the world.

  I Spy a Water Tower
  Try and locate your local water tower (called an elevated tank) the next time you're out in your community.

• Turtle Time - 20 minutes

  Learn about native turtles and their habitats in the Niagara peninsula watershed.

  Classroom activities

  Make Your Own Turtle
  Make your own turtle by following the turtle craft instructions.

  Roads and Rivers
  Play our version of Snakes and Ladders by helping the turtle make its way from the start to a safe pond in the conservation area. Download Roads and Rivers.

• EarthEcho Water Challenge - 20 minutes

  Join us as we perform four water quality tests to determine if our water body can sustain aquatic life. Students will learn about the importance of water quality and healthy aquatic ecosystems in our environment.

  Classroom activities

  Water Quality Around the World
  Using the map of tested locations on the EarthEcho Water Challenge website, navigate the map to find the results nearest to where you live. Check five other locations anywhere in the world and compare the results.

  Make Your Own Turbidity Tester
  Check out this activity to make your own Secchi Disk. If you can't laminate yours like the one in the activity, try using clear tape to cover the disk to protect it.

• Yellow Fish Road - 15 minutes

  Learn about storm drains and where water goes when it rains, and how pollution in storm drains can hurt fish and other aquatic species. Students will also learn some simple actions they can take to protect drinking water and wildlife from pollution.

  Classroom activities

  Yellow Fish Road Program
  Teachers - you can learn more about the Yellow Fish Road program in Niagara and how your school might take part.

  Virtual Field Trip to Check Stream Health
  Now that you know how storm drains lead to our water, take a virtual field trip to chek stream health with a Trout Unlimited biologist using various tests for water quality.

  Yellow Fish Road quiz
  Complete the Yellow Fish Road quiz.

Web-based activity centres

• Mad Science

  Join Quantum Kyle from the Mad Science team for fun in class and at home water science experiments!

• Incredible Journey

  The Earth has been recycling water for over four billion years. Students will learn about the water cycle and how the world's water moves between lakes, rivers, oceans, the atmosphere and the land.

  Classroom activities

  The Water Cycle Song
  Learn a fun song about the water cycle!

  Incredible Journey Bracelet
  If you have some craft materials around the house, try making a water cycle bracelet to help you remember the steps of the water cycle!

• The Water Walker

  Join us as we learn about Josephine Mandamin, an Anishinaabe elder, and her fight to protect our water. Learn about her walk around the Great Lakes and how her journey has brought awareness to and inspired many generations to protect our water from pollution. Students will also learn about water advisories and if there are any in Niagara.

  Classroom activities

  The Water ('Nibi') Song
  Listen to the Water Song (or '-Nibi' song) sung by Doreen Day

  The Water Walker Book
  Nokomis - our grandmothers - walk to protect our water and to protect all of us. The Water Walker is the award-winning story of Josephine Mandamin and her love for water (or nibi). Listen to The Water Walker book being read aloud. You can also purchase a copy of the Water Walker book.

  Interview with Josephine Mandamin
  In this interview, Josephine Mandamin recounts her Water Walk around the Great Lakes and talks about the importance of water. Watch the interview with Josephine Mandamin.

  Ending Long-Term Drinking Water Advisories
  Everyone in Canada should have access to safe, clean drinking water. The Government of Canada is working with First Nations communities to achieve clean drinking water on reserves. Long-term drinking water advisories can be found throughout Canada. Discover the status of achieving clean drinking water on reserves and find out if there are any water advisories in your area.