Water moves among stores and changes state. Solar energy helps drive evaporation; gravity helps water fall and flow. Water vapour is invisible gas. Clouds contain tiny droplets or ice crystals. The water cycle has many paths, with no single starting point or fixed travel time. Safety: No water handling or heating. This diagram does not forecast rainfall or specify water quality. Stop: Stop after two paper routes. Do not boil water, use hot water, make a sealed bottle cycle, or wait for real weather.

Materials: Paper; Pencil; One large torn paper marker 1. Draw an ocean at lower left, a cloud above, a mountain at right, a river back to the ocean, and a groundwater store below the mountain. Add a Sun symbol outside the water route. 2. Label five arrows: ocean → air Evaporation: liquid becomes gas; air → cloud Condensation: vapour becomes tiny drops; cloud → land Precipitation: rain, snow, or hail falls; land → river Runoff; land → underground Infiltration. Draw a river → ocean return arrow. 3. Move the paper marker along ocean, air, cloud, land, river, ocean. At each arrow, say whether water changes state or changes location. Add Energy from Sun near evaporation and Gravity near falling and downhill flow. 4. Trace a second possible route that pauses in groundwater before returning toward a river. Write one sentence explaining why your marker need not follow one loop at a fixed speed. Mark the drawing Simplified model, no timescale. Done: A six-arrow diagram, three named state/process terms, energy and gravity labels, and two traced routes are complete. Proof: Keep the diagram and a written or adult-recorded route explanation. Note help with labels, reading, or choosing the groundwater branch. Stop: Stop after two paper routes. Do not boil water, use hot water, make a sealed bottle cycle, or wait for real weather.