Plip! The Biggest Round Trip

Follow one raindrop from warm sea to cloudy sky, down rivers, and back again.

16 pages · Ages 4-5 · EN

Plip! The Biggest Round Trip

For every child who listens to the rain.

Hello, Little Sparkle

A sparkling drop rests on a small ocean wave beside a beach bucket at sunrise.

Look closely at that small wave. A bright water sparkle is resting there. Around it stretches a huge, warm ocean. Soon, sunshine will start its very big trip. You can follow this one tiny bit of water.

Up, Up, Invisible

Sunshine warms ocean water and a small puddle as water becomes invisible in the air.

Sunshine warms the sea’s top skin. The water does not leap up whole. It changes bit by bit. This is evaporation: liquid water becomes invisible water in the air. A little puddle can do this too. That is why a sunny puddle slowly gets smaller.

Cold Sky, Tiny Drops

Tiny water drops gather in a cool cloud around one bright sparkling drop.

High up, the air feels cool. The invisible water cools too. It gathers into teeny drops again. This is condensation: cooled water becomes tiny drops. Many people think clouds are cotton or smoke. But a cloud is more like mist on a bathroom mirror, floating high overhead.

A Cloud Is Water

A cutaway cloud shows many tiny water drops as a bird flies beside it.

Clouds look soft from far away. Many people think they are cotton. But a cloud is a floating group of tiny water drops. Some clouds hold tiny ice bits, too. Come peek inside one with our bright little drop.

Whoosh Over Land

A cloud drifts from the sea over fields and houses toward mountains.

Wind is moving air. It nudges clouds along. Our cloud leaves the sea behind. It floats over fields and little houses. It sails toward tall mountains. The tiny drops ride together, high above a toy-sized bus.

Big Drop, Down Drop

Tiny drops join inside a cloud, and one larger drop starts to fall.

Inside the cloud, tiny drops bump. They join like beads on glass. One drop grows bigger. Soon it is too heavy to float. Gravity is Earth’s pull downward. The big drop begins to fall. Plip! It is rain, not a cloud bucket tipping over.

Plip on the Mountain

Rain falls over green mountains as one sparkling drop lands on a leaf.

Plip! A cloud has let go. Rain is water coming down from the sky. Our bright drop lands softly on a leaf. It has travelled from sea to cloud. Now its long trip across land begins.

Slide, Puddle, Trickle

A sparkling raindrop slides from a leaf into a puddle beside a yellow boot.

Water does not need legs to move. The leaf tips it off. Plip goes into a puddle. Then it finds a little downhill path. A trickle is a tiny moving line of water. Tiny trickles can meet and travel together.

River Ribbon Home

A sparkling drop travels in a winding river toward the sea, while some water sinks into the ground.

Little water paths join up. Together, they can make a river, a wide flowing path. Rivers bend under bridges and often head toward the sea. But Plip may take side trips. It can sink into the ground, slip into plant roots, or rest underground awhile.

Watch One Drop

A child and grown-up watch sparkling raindrops slide down a window beside a toy dinosaur.

On a rainy day, watch a drop travel safely from indoors.

Check your wonder

New words

Where we looked

We looked at trusted science information from NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey to learn about water’s journey.

The end

Now you know rain is on a big round trip. Sunshine, clouds, and rivers all help it travel. Next time you hear plip, plip, wonder: where will this water go next?