George’s Model Town

George makes a model town for his toy bus. He sets card houses inside a broad waterproof tray and adds a road. Dad brings a small watering jug. “Shall we see what happens in pretend rain?” George moves his paper passengers somewhere dry.

Dad pours a little water over the town. It runs off the roof of the bus stop and makes a puddle across the road. The card houses stay on their raised bases, but the bus cannot reach its stop without going through the puddle.

George dries the tray and looks at the roof. “It keeps the stop dry underneath,” he says, “but it sends water onto the road.” He puts a small empty container beside the stop. The water needs a route to reach it.

They add a wide plastic gutter along the lower edge of the model roof. Dad fixes it securely, with one end slightly lower than the other. George places the collecting container beneath that end, away from the toy road.

For the next test, Dad uses the same jug and a similar slow pour. Water runs along the gutter and into the container. A little still spills at the joint where the gutter meets the roof. George points to the wet patch.

Dad helps adjust the joint so water from the roof enters the gutter. They test again with the same amount of water. This time the road stays much drier. George checks under the model too, because a hidden leak would still matter.

His sister brings the toy bus back. She drives it past the stop while George watches the collecting container. “What happens when that fills up?” she asks. George decides they must empty it between games and keep the water level low.

They dry the whole model before putting it away. George draws a route from roof to gutter to container. “The cover was only the beginning,” he says. Dad points to the clear toy road. “You thought about where the water would go next.”