2024

Granted $5,000.00 for Halton Children’s Water Festival

Project Objectives:

The Halton Children’s Water Festival (HCWF) is a four-day educational event held annually for Halton-area children in grades two through five. Since its launch in 2006, over 50,000 children attended the festival. It quickly grew into one of the largest festivals of its kind in Ontario. Through curriculum-linked activity stations, students spend each day outdoors, immersed in fun, hands-on learning helping them understand the importance of water as our most precious natural resource – and how to protect it.

The festival is a community-based event drawing on the expertise of conservation authorities as watershed managers and environmental educators and bringing together government and institutional partners to inspire learning and community action, for the health of people and our planet. With 60 unique activity stations, the HCWF encourages students to practice creative problem-solving and team-building skills, all as part of fun, outdoor learning in the following curriculum-linked areas: 1) Water and Society: Topics include the history of water and its relationship to community, the uses of water and how to steward water locally and globally. 2) Water Science and Technology: Topics include the water cycle, the physical science of ground and surface water, water treatment and distribution systems, and more. 3) Water Health and Safety: Topics include safety around watercourses and the role of water in community health. 4) Water Conservation and Protection: Topics include the impacts of human activity on water systems, how to conserve water at home, school and in the community, and how to protect local water sources.