Children's Water Festival

The Children's Water Festival happens once a year down at Pier 4 Park in Hamilton, and us staff from the Steam & Technology Museum participated this year by offering free educational water-themed activities for hundreds of kids. Possibly thousands. It was crazy, non-stop action. Crazy. Non-stop. Action. But fun. 

I had no idea how huge this event was until I actually got to go participate this past Thursday - there were dozens of other organizations - rowing clubs, Royal Botanical Gardens, Hamilton Water/Waste Water division team, EcoHouse, etc. etc. who came out to provide activity stations for the busloads of Grade 4's visiting throughout the week.  

The Steam Museum activity was two-fold: learning about the history of the Hamilton Waterworks and the importance of testing and filtering our drinking water; and then participating in a relay race called "The Trip of the Drip:" kids pretend they are a drop of water starting in Lake Ontario, and by crawling through pipes, pumping water, and jumping off the 'reservoir,' the drops eventually get to your facilities at home. Kids celebrate their successful water system travels by popping up through an oversized toilet and yelling "FLUSH!!" at the top of their lungs. Good, silly fun.  

I think our station probably was the loudest, with so many kids yelling and giggling as their friends rush through the relay. All of the groups of kids, their teachers and helpers, were happy and excited to learn and try new things at this event. I had three wonderful volunteer helpers on Thursday, and honestly running our activities wouldn't have been possible without them. 

By the end of the day, I'm pretty sure everyone on site had lost their voices - myself included. But it was worth it for a fun, beautiful, educational day learning about the importance of water! Added bonus: everyone now has a snazzy new t-shirt and reusable water bottle! 

Swag