Question

Explain the role of water cycle in closed terrarium with labelled diagram

Answer 1

Terrariums are wonderful projects: they’re easy to plant, easy to care for and they look wonderful. They also recycle their moisture, so they rarely need to be watered, requiring almost no attention. Often, a closed terrarium can be left for a month or more between watering.

Discussing the water cycle is a great introduction for this project. What are clouds? What are they made of? What is rain? What does the sky look like when it rains? Why does it rain? Where does the rain go after it falls? What happens to puddles after it rains? These questions will start a discussion about evaporation, condensation, and precipitation. Discuss each of these things as you put your terrarium together. (You may want to check out the animated diagram of the water cycle from the US Environmental Protection Agency.)

Any clear container can be made into a terrarium; just make sure that your container is watertight. Choose something large enough to accommodate the plants, and has a cover, lid, or door to keep the moisture from escaping. Jars, bottles, and aquariums are commonly used and each works great. Whatever the container, you can now easily bring nature into the classroom.