Charlie’s Water Channel

Charlie wants to send water to Grandma’s thirsty plant. The pot stands beside the garden tray. “Could we make a little stream?” he asks. Grandma brings two broad, shallow plastic channels.

Charlie puts the channels end to end. He pours a little water into the first one. Water runs along it, then drops through the gap between the two pieces. The pot stays dry.

“The water found a way out,” says Grandma. Charlie looks at the join. The ends touch, but they do not overlap. “I need one end to go over the other,” he says.

Grandma helps him slide the upper piece over the lower one. They secure the join with waterproof tape. Charlie presses the tape flat. The water will have a path across the join.

He pours again. This time the water crosses the join but gathers in a shallow dip. Charlie looks along the channel. “The middle is lower than the end,” he notices.

They put a broad support beneath the dip and lower the far end towards the pot. Grandma checks that everything is steady. Now the channel slopes gently all the way from the jug.

Charlie pours a small amount. Water travels along both pieces and trickles into the soil. He stops when Grandma says the plant has enough. “It reached the roots,” he says.

They empty the tray and put the channels away. Charlie tells Grandma about the overlapping join and the gentle slope. “We had to fix two things,” he says. The plant’s soil is damp now.