ADST PROJECTS - Terrarium Water Cycles

Terrarium Water Cycles

Grade 2 | Science, ADST

Students build their own terrariums to create a small, living environment where they can observe the water cycle happening in real time. As students layer materials, add a plant, and establish their terrarium, they create a physical model that makes processes such as evaporation and condensation much easier to see and discuss.

The learning continues after the build. Terrariums remain in the classroom for several weeks, ideally on or near a windowsill, and become an ongoing source of scientific observation. Students regularly revisit their terrariums and use Seesaw to photograph and document what they notice, connecting changes inside the jar to their developing understanding of the water cycle.

Read our newsletter post: Vol. 71 🪴 A Split Class Terrarium Collaboration

How it supports the curriculum

Big Ideas

Water is essential to all living things, and it cycles through the environment.

Content Connections

The water cycle
- evaporation
- condensation
- precipitation
- runoff
Water is essential to living things

Curricular Competencies

Observe objects and events in familiar contexts
Make simple predictions about familiar objects and events
Make and record observations
Compare observations with predictions through discussion
Identify simple patterns and connections
Compare observations with those of others
Communicate observations and ideas using oral or written language, drawing, or role-play
Communicating – Students communicate what they notice through photographs, oral recordings, written observations, and classroom discussion.
Critical & Reflective Thinking – Students observe changes over time, identify patterns, and connect what they see inside their terrarium to their understanding of the water cycle.

Classroom Things Needed

Technology: iPads

Services: Seesaw

Materials: Mason jars, potting soil, clay pellets, small rocks, small plants, water spray bottles, scoops, decorations

Teacher Skills needed

👉 Note: We can help build your confidence with all of these skills before and during the project!

Seesaw: Create, assign, and reuse simple Seesaw observation activities.

Student Skills needed

👉 Note: Just like the teacher skills, we can help build students' confidence with all of these skills before and during the project!

iPads: Sign in independently and safe handling.

Seesaw: Sign in independently, take photo, add simple voice or written reflection.

Project Outline
Duration: 2 hours, then 3 weeks of observation

Phase 1 – Building the Terrariums

Students create their own terrariums by layering the necessary materials, planting a small plant, and adding optional natural or decorative elements. The build provides a hands-on introduction to the environment students will observe throughout the project and gives each student ownership over a living model they will continue investigating.

Phase 2 – Observe the Water Cycle

Keep the completed terrariums in the classroom for several weeks where students can easily observe them. Students revisit their terrariums regularly, looking closely for changes such as water collecting on the inside of the jar, disappearing from the glass, or returning to the soil.

Using a reusable Seesaw observation template, students photograph what their terrarium looks like and record what they notice through voice or text. They then connect their observation to what they know about the water cycle. Repeated observations allow students to see that the terrarium does not always look the same and begin recognizing the cycle as an ongoing process rather than a static diagram.

Phase 3: Writer

Lesson: Transforming research into scientific writing for first draft of their real-animal trading card
Working Block: write description for animal
Mini-Lesson: design a brand-new animal that could survive in a chosen biome
Working Block: Write description for new animal.
Reflection:

Phase 4: Card Designer

Launch Activity: Design Cycle Introduction
Mini-Lesson: Canva lesson (Layers, text boxes, inserting graphics, duplicating designs, turning in work to Google Classroom)
Working Block:
Reflection:

Phase 5: Exhibition

Teacher Task: Printing the Cards
Cards are presented to buddy classes and students invite their younger buddies to write a story about their designed animal.