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Additional
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Making A Splash
By Producer, Kelly Meinhart
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do you get when you combine over 50,000 students with hands-on
water related activities? You get the “Make A Splash”
water festival sponsored through Project WET. These nationwide
festivals are held every September throughout more than 131
towns, and all have the same goal; to promote a day of watershed
education and fun for kids. This year, I visited with the Wildlands
Conservancy in Emmaus to take part in the festivities.
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Make a Splash festival is sponsored through Project WET (Water Education for Teachers), which is an international, water science and education program for formal and non-formal educators of K-12 students. And the Make a Splash water festival is just one example of the innovative programs and projects sponsored through Project WET.
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water festival itself introduces kids to a variety of water
related topics, including; the hydrologic cycle, ground water,
spring water, wetlands, water management and the properties
of water. It’s a fun-filled, interactive day for students,
within the perfect setting for environmental learning –
outdoors.
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 ver 350 students from local schools gathered at the Pool Wildlife Sanctuary, home of the Wildlands Conservancy, to get involved with the hands-on, interactive learning stations. Activities included; the Water Cycle Obstacle Course, the Macroinvertebrate Study, Raptors of a Watershed, and of course, Wanda Wetland was on hand to encourage students to explore the world of wetland habitats!
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the course of four hours, 350 students learned why having clean
water is vital, not only to our own health, but to the health
of other species within our ecosystem. I watched as they stared,
wide-eyed, at the birds of prey, and listened to them laugh
aloud while running through the obstacle course, saw them shriek
when water doused their shirts as they raced through the ‘Long
Haul’ event, and ultimately saw a successful program at
work.. for everyone was learning something new.
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the skill of the Project WET program, and of the Make a Splash
water festival – by engaging kids in the process of learning
through activities that are fun, they learn without even realizing
it. For the Make a Splash water festival, I’d say these
students went home to tell their parents all about Wanda Wetland
and her special habitats, and how the Long Haul taught them
that each person uses a lot of water, each and every day, and
how owls need wetland habitats to hunt…. and so much more…all
because of this fantastic program. Congrats to Project WET and
to the Wildlands Conservancy for not only making an impact,
but for creating lasting educational impressions.
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Check out these sites for more information about Project WET:
Project
WET
Wildlands
Conservancy
PA
Dept. of Education |
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