Where does a puddle go?
A plain-English answer for grown-ups of kids aged 6–9, taken from the Yufena lesson that explores this question.
This lesson is free to try. No card, no sign-up.
The answer, for parents
Short answer: Puddle water evaporates: tiny particles escape into the air as invisible water vapour.
Water is made of tiny particles. They are far too small to see. The particles are always moving, even in a puddle that looks still. Heat gives the particles more energy. At the top, some zoom so fast they escape into the air. They become invisible water vapour. This is called evaporation.
Sun, wind and warmth make evaporation faster. Wind carries the vapour away. But puddles dry in the shade too, only more slowly. The water vapour floats up high. There it cools and makes clouds. Later it falls as rain, and new puddles fill up! This is how monsoon rain begins.
In the lesson, your child puts this cause-and-effect chain in order: Puddle water has tiny moving particles → Heat gives them more energy → Some escape into the air → The puddle gets smaller → The puddle is gone.
What if it is windy? Wind carries the water vapour away. So the puddle dries faster. Washing dries faster on a windy day too.
Where does the water vapour go? It floats up and cools into clouds. Later it can fall again as rain, just like the monsoon.
Try it with your child
Let's watch a puddle shrink. After rain, find two puddles. One is in the sun and one is in the shade. Draw round each puddle with chalk. Come back every hour. Draw round each puddle again. Which one gets smaller faster? Do both puddles shrink in the end?
Safety: Safety first: stay away from roads and cars. Ask a grown-up to come with you.
Explore it together in the free lesson
Guess, find clues, build the chain and try the experiment. Read it together.