Water you doing to protect H2O ?

You too can make a BIG SPLASH !  Every drop counts, every step we take to give back to water makes a big difference ~ whether it’s learning more about water systems or pledging to do something differently this year to protect and conserve water. (Find great ideas students shared in the past below or here). Our actions can ripple out to make waves of change with others by sharing them.

Please share your pledged actions for greater water protection using the form below, on our Facebook page, or by emailing them to splash@waterheroes.ca to enter our Big Splash Contests.  

Teachers/parents/care-givers can also acknowledge young Water Heroes taking action with a Certificate and promote the program with this poster.  Feel welcome to use our sample forms or create your own way of collecting students reflections.

Contact information collected through this form will be respected as private, not shared publicly or with any partners, only used to contact you in relation to good ideas sent and the contests.

Be sure to mention the name of the community location/ event or the school you learned about this from when you enter for a chance to win donated prizes.  Students and school groups sending in Water Hero actions they’ll be taking in 2024 before April 30th will be entered into our Big Splash Contest.  The school that enters the most pledged actions will be presented with the Big Splash Trophy with their name engraved onto it at the next HMK Childrens Water Festival in the Fall and will host this at their school for the year ahead. We also have sponsored prizes for the class which sends in the most responses, and for some individual students who register the most significant actions they have taken to improve their water stewardship this year.

Congratulations, Big Splash Contest Winners!

Our 2024 Big Splash Trophy winners are Haliburton’s At Last Forest School  

Through the spring , 45 students of this local At Last Forest School   participated in many fun hands-on learning about water and reflected on how we can take care of  it. Activities such as  How wet is our planet / Water on Earth? (click on for guide) after which each student group had a discussion about what the students helping protect our oceans and 1% of fresh, drinkable water would look like. On rainy days they read a book called Rain, that brilliantly explored the water cycle and made rain sticks that helped connect rain with increased water levels in the local creek.  Students also brought recyclables from home to build into boats to float down the creeks and then talked about the problem of garbage in our waterways, as the boats broke down and were removed.  Vernal/ephemeral pond studies revealed how important these ponds are to the frog, bug and salamander populations, to name a few – even when they are here for such a short time.

& to Special Water Heroes team of grade 7/8 students of K.P. Manson Public School

recognized for their Earth Day clean-up on roads around and so protecting the waters of Kahshe Lake

The Big Splash contest for regional Elementary Students in 2023 opened on World Water Day, March 22 and close Sunday April 30th, following Earth Day/Week. The Big Splash Trophy and class prizes sponsored by Kawartha Dairy were awarded to the team at Haliburton’s At Last Forest School who had students aged 18 months to 9 years of age wind up a series of water-focussed explorations with this inspiring  poster of pledges !

2019 Winner :Congratulations to the students of Macaulay Public School!

On November 9, 2020 we were finally able to present the 2019 Water Hero Challenge winners with the Big Splash Award! The award was presented to Principal David Crawford by Irene Heaven outside of Macaulay Public School along with a videotaped message congratulating last year’s students of Ms. Thompson’s. Mr. Crawford honoured these students through a virtual presentation. The Big Splash Trophy, was engraved with the school’s name and returned to Macaulay Public School at the 2022 in-person Festival, to display for the year ahead.  Thank you to all the students who participated in our last (pre-Covid)  Water Hero Challenge and congratulations to Ms. Thompson’s 2019 class!

We were excited to announce that Monck Public School  won the 2018 Water Hero Contest and will be hosting the Big Splash Award until the 2019 Festival! This is Monck’s third consecutive year in hosting the Big Splash Award! Congratulations!

Lady MacKenzie Public School also did extremely well with their creative water saving ideas and must be given an honorable mention.

Both schools will be given a Water Hero Certificate in recognition of their water saving ideas!

Here are some of those awesome ideas:

• Keep shorelines natural to help protect natural habitat.
• Put trees around the water so the shores don’t erode away and keep waterways clear so turtles don’t have to get out and maybe get hit by cars!
• Put wells that filter water from the sink and shower.
• Use H2O straws when your camping or at  your cottage!
• Use metal reusable water bottles.
• Companies should put fuel filters on jet boats or invent boats that filter the water pollution and clean it while you are driving!
• Don’t use fertilizers on yard or gardens!
• While you are waiting for the water to get hot, collect it and use it on your plants!
• Pour leftover water from water bottles in your plants or garden instead of down the drain!
• Water your plants in the early morning or late afternoon when the sun isn’t too hot.
• Wear your clothes more than once, if they are not dirty!

Thank you to all for your entries! Keep on being water heroes! Together we are making a splash!

2017 Big Splash Winners

For the second year running, the students of Monck Public School in Bracebridge have won the Water Hero Challenge by submitting over 40 creative water saving ideas!

In the words of one student, “Water is such an important thing, and I hate to say so, but slowly but surely … we are running out of it. I just hope everyone can save water in any way they can.”

2016 Big Splash Award Presentation

Monck Public School of Bracebridge is the 2016 winner of the Big Splash Award!

2014 Big Splash Award Presentation

2013 Big Splash Winners