Learning Resources: Catchments
Our learning resources for catchments focus on how different landscapes and land uses can affect how water flows in the catchment and the risk of flooding.
Many of the resources are designed to be used with the augmented reality sandbox but can be adapted for other uses.
Watch the sandbox demonstration videos, then complete the activities!
In this short film, we use the sandbox to explore how nature-based solutions (NbS) can help reduce flood risk by watching how two different catchments respond to the same ‘virtual’ rainfall.
On the left…
The straight river channels, extensive upland drainage and housing built in the floodplain (blue bricks).
The lack of upland water storage means that rainfall runs off very quickly, flooding the downstream catchment.
Housing to the right of the river is protected by engineered flood defences (orange bricks).
On the right…
This is a more natural catchment with NbS and natural flood management (NFM) features all helping to slow the flow of water.
Can you see the meandering river channel, upland water storage (run-off attenuation features) and leaky dams?
With the same amount of rainfall, the water takes longer to reach the lowland areas and more water is retained in the upper catchment compared to the catchment on the left.
Classroom resources
Activities for Key Stage 2 (age 7-11)
KS2 Water and Landscape Missing Words
KS2 Sandbox River & Landscape Wordsearch
KS2 Sandbox Landscape Features (Addingham) Activity
Activities for Key Stage 3 (age 11-14)
KS3 Sandbox Landscape Features Identification Activity
KS3 Sandbox Water Flow & Natural Flood Management Activity
More resources coming soon!
