The Festival this year will be May 30th and May 31st, 2023. We’re looking forward to being live and in-person once again.

Peterborough Children’s Water Festival

Want to start your year off with #WaterWednesday resources?  Wonderful resources from the 2022 Water Wednesday season live  Here  and Wonders of Water archives live here!  Locally focused and fun water education for your class.

The 20^th Annual (and 2nd Virtual) Peterborough Children’s Water Festival a huge success in 2022 with 2300 students tuning in from 98 classes

The Peterborough Children’s Water Festival (PCWF) wrapped up its second virtual, month-long event on May 26th. Over the course of four Water Wednesdays held this May:

2300 students in grades 2-5 registered with 98 classes from 45 schools across the region.

This year’s virtual festival included four 45-minute, live, weekly injections of water education presented in online workshops that highlighted the four pillars of the PCWF: Cultural Perspectives, Conservation, Protection, and Science & Technology.

Students were treated to guest appearances from Elder Dorothy Taylor from Curve Lake First Nation, Shaelyn Wabegijig from Kawartha World Issues Centre, Otonabee Conservation, OFAH’s Atlantic Salmon Education, the Riverview Park and Zoo Education team, the Waste Water Treatment Plant, and the Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre.  The live-streamed festival began each week with a new theme song written and recorded by Glen Caradus, the Paddling Puppeteer.

“In addition to the practical knowledge that students obtained from presentations, I believe the variety of speakers provided the opportunity for students to hear from others who have a passion for water.  These experts presented many different aspects of the importance of water. This is valuable because students don’t always get to hear from people who are truly passionate about a cause; this can be the spark to ignite their own passions, and if not a career with water, they see modelled how people make careers of passions.”

Tanya Hunter from Roseneath Public School

Want to start your #WaterWednesday now? Find the Wonders of Water archives here!  Locally focused and fun water education for your class.

Thank you for your support of Water Education!

About Us

The Peterborough Children’s Water Festival (PCWF) is a community event for children in Grade 2 to 5. The PCWF provides students with the opportunity to discover the importance and diversity of water.

The PCWF works in partnership with educators, water quality and quantity specialists, community volunteers, conservation groups, industry and government to create a festival full of activities that are educational and fun for children in grades 2 to 5. Read our 2021 Newsletter

Learning how to ID Benthic Macroinvertebrates

Check out the Highlights from our many years of Water Education!

Support

The Peterborough Children’s Water Festival has been a successful educational event for 19 years thanks to the support of our community partners and local businesses. 

Supporters enable us to promote and deliver water education to hundreds of children in Peterborough and the Kawarthas region annually. Support the PCWF

Thanks to our Supporters!

Festival Supporters  – $5,000+

Festival Patron – $2,500-$4,999

Festival Benefactor – $1,000-$2,499

Symons Trust Fund for Canadian Studies

Festival Friend –  < $1,000

Grant and Emma Murphy

Wayne Stiver

Herb Lang Drilling

Township of Selwyn

In Kind Sponsorship

City of Peterborough

GreenUP

Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board

Otonabee Conservation

Peterborough Utilities Group

Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board

Riverview Park and Zoo

TRACKS

Trent University

We are enormously grateful for the financial and in-kind contributions of local sponsors that support our in-person festival!

Thank you to past and present sponsors who have supported immersive water education!  We’re thinking of all of you in these unprecedented times!

Our 2022 Steering Committee are hard at work

City of Peterborough

GreenUp

Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board

Otonabee Conservation

Peterborough Northumberland Victoria and Clarington Catholic District School Board 

Peterborough Utilities Group

Riverview Park and Zoo

Trent University

Wayne Stiver, Community Member