AI Book

Maya loved watching clouds. One sunny afternoon, she lay on the grass and saw a big gray cloud that looked like a giant elephant.

Suddenly, a tiny drop of water fell on her nose. 'Where did you come from?' Maya asked. The drop giggled and said, 'I’m Drippy, a water drop on an adventure!'

Drippy told Maya, 'I started in the ocean. The warm sun heated me up, and I turned into water vapor and floated into the sky. That’s called evaporation.'

Drippy continued, 'In the sky, I joined lots of other tiny drops. We huddled together and made a fluffy cloud. When many drops stick together, it’s called condensation.'

Maya pointed at the dark cloud above. 'Is that why the cloud is gray?' Drippy nodded. 'Yes! Our cloud is getting heavy with water. When it’s too full, we fall to the ground as rain. That’s called precipitation.'

Raindrops began to patter around them. 'Sometimes we fall as snow or hail if it’s very cold,' Drippy said. 'But today, it’s just a gentle rain.'

Maya watched the drops soak into the soil. 'Where do you go next?' she asked. Drippy replied, 'We can sink into the ground to help plants drink. Or we can flow into rivers and back to the ocean.'

That whole journey is called the water cycle,' Drippy explained proudly. 'Evaporation up, condensation into clouds, precipitation down, then flowing back to lakes and seas.'

When the rain stopped, Drippy smiled. 'The sun will warm me again, and I’ll start my trip all over.' Maya waved and said, 'Have a fun next cycle, Drippy! I’ll look up and try to spot you in the clouds.'