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Poster Contest: Soil to Spoon

Do you enjoy art? If so, enter our poster contest with the Theme Soil to Spoon. The rules and entry info are available on our Poster Contest Page. This contest is open to K-12 students in Butler County, Ohio. If you live elsewhere in Ohio, contact your SWCD office to find out if they are holding the contest.

Did you know....?

- There is about the same amount of water on Earth now as there was millions of years ago.
- 75% of the earth is covered with water.
- 97% of earth’s water is in the oceans.
- 2% percent of the earth's water is frozen in glaciers.
- Only 1% is fresh water for us to use.
- 75% of the human brain is water.
- Ice is lighter than water, which is why ice floats.
- It takes 2 gallons to brush your teeth.
- It takes 2-7 gallons to flush a toilet.
- It takes 25-50 gallons to take a shower.
- Natural processes can take more than 500 years to form one inch of topsoil.
- Soil scientists have identified over 70,000 kinds of soil in the United States.
- An average soil sample is 45 percent minerals, 25 percent water, 25 percent air, and five percent organic matter.

How Can You Help the Earth?

- Turn off the tap in your bathroom while you brush your teeth.
- Take shorter showers. (Get a timer and time yourself.)
- Fill a pitcher with tap water and put it in the fridge, rather than running the tap every time you want a cold drink!
- Have a No Trash Lunch Week Recycle
- Find a way to reuse your garbage. You can turn a milk jug into a bird feeder, or use an old grocery bag to clean up after your dog.
- Start a worm bin or regular compost pile
- Have a No Trash Lunch Week
- Plant native species in your backyard or on your school campus
- Plan a volunteer workday
- Teach others about things that can do to help
- Join us on our river cleanup to pick up trash
- Have a No Trash Lunch Week
- Ask a grown up to out food coloring in your toilet tank. If it seeps into the toilet bowl without flushing, you have a leak. Fixing it can save up to 1,000 gallons a month.

Fun Stuff: Here are some games and activities

Soil
Fossils
Rocks
Water
Plants and Animals
Science

Soil

Dirt or Soil? Soil or Dirt?
Wilbur The Soil Wizard: Soil Biological Communities Fun facts, games, and lots of information about soil.
Join Badger and his students to learn more about the soil. This site has areas for different ages, case studies, activities, and resources for teachers and parents
Go on a Soil Safari in this great game from Discovery.
What's your soil IQ? Try this and more games.
Dig It! The Secrets of Soil from the Smithsonian has facts, experiments, and links to other great soil sites
Meet Claude, a small clod of soil in this fun interactive site
The Dirt on Soil
NRCS Fun Agriculture education (pdf activity sheet)
The Earth's Soil from Kids Geo

Fossils

Fossils: What are they? And, how are they made? From How Stuff Works
Fossil Park- If you live here in Butler County, just down the road in Sharonville is Trammel Fossil Park. In this great park where you are allowed to climb the hillside and look for fossils. Please remember that you are not allowed to dig, but you are allowed to collect some samples to take with you. The Fossil Park is named after the family who donated the 10 acres to the City of Sharonville, the R.L. Trammel Family. This generous donation was made in the spirit that Sharonville would develop it into a place where schools and avid fossil hunters could come and explore for all time to come.
Fossils from the Learning Zone
Fossil Facts from Science Kids

Rocks and Geology

OneGeology, the great site has lots of great interactive info.
Dynamic Earth from the Smithsonian Museum
Geology and Geography for Kids
Geology of the United States
Learn about Rocks and Minerals from the USGS

Water

Environmental Kids Club from the EPA
Drinking and Ground Water Kid's Stuff with sections with activites and information for different ages along with resources for teachers
USGS Water Science for Schools has information, pictures, actrivities and more
Water Sense for kids from the EPA on how to save water, also has a game andinfo for teachers
Kids Playhouse about pollution from your neighborhood
Discover Water interactive kids site from Project WET
Water Education Foundation
Morphie's Great Water Ride Adventure story from Environmenat Canada
Groundwater Foundation's Kids Corner has experiments, information, coloring sheets and much more

Plants and Animals

MooMilk A fun and educational website about cows and milk with facts, contests, games and recipes. Join the herd!
So you want to know about Bats? Facts about bats and bat conservation from the Organization for Bat Conservation
Wildlife games at this BBC website
Wild Kids from Ohio's Division of Wildlife
A-Z Species Guide from ODNR Division of Widlife
Top 1- Invasive plants in Ohio
Just for Kids has The Great Plant Escape, The Secret Life of Trees and much more
Biology for Kids has info about plants and animals and even other science topics

Science

DragonflyTV Games, experiments, and activites from DragonflyTV
Science Made Easy Get fun science projects & great experiments using household materials.
www.sciencemadesimple.com
Do Science This weird and wacky page has experiments for you to try if you ever go eat in a restaurant to pass away the time before your food finally arrives!
www.doscience.com/index.html
The Science Club has hundreds of experiments for you to try, ranging from simple to difficult, with lots of ideas for science projects. Check out how to make your own DistgustoScope!
scienceclub.org/
Science Clips from the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) has different activities for different ages, can you find something for you.
www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/index_flash.shtml
Lots of games at the National Geographic site

Butler Soil & Water Conservation District