Classroom activity Kindergarten Science

The Applewick Pipe Crew: A Kindergarten Cup Passing Chain Game

A kindergarten activity where students stand in a line as a water pipe, pass cups from the well tub to the tap tub, and find out what one gap in the line does.

Grade: Kindergarten
Subject: Science
Material: Classroom activity
Time: 30 min
Prep: Low prep
Materials: Two plastic tubs or buckets, Ten small plastic cups, A pitcher of water, or blue pom-poms for a dry version, Two towels, Floor tape, Chart paper and a marker

Standards

K-2-ETS1-1 NGSS

Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.

How this material aligns: The break round gives students a situation to observe and define, since the water stops at the gap, and the debrief has them say what a crew would need to fix it.

All materials for K-2-ETS1-1 →

K.CC.B.4 Common Core Math

Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities; connect counting to cardinality: a. When counting objects, say the number names in the standard order, pairing each object with one and only one number name and each number name with one and only one object. b. Understand that the last number name said tells the number of objects counted. The number of objects is the same regardless of their arrangement or the order in which they were counted. c. Understand that each successive number name refers to a quantity that is one larger.

How this material aligns: Students count the cups arriving in the tap tub by touching each cup once and saying one number name per cup, and the last number tells how many arrived.

All materials for K.CC.B.4 →

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This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely, without attribution. Updated 2026-09-03.

Objectives

Students will pass cups down a human pipe line from the well tub to the tap tub without leaving a gap.
Students will count the cups that reach the tap tub in each round.
Students will describe what happens to the water when one section of the line is missing.

Vocabulary

Key words: pipe, well, tap, crew, gap, pass

Teacher overview

In the fictional town of Applewick, the water comes out of a well at one end of town and has to reach a school tap at the other end, and the only thing between them is a line of pipe buried under the street. In this whole-class game the students are that pipe. They stand shoulder to shoulder between two tubs and hand cups of water from the well tub to the tap tub, one cup at a time, so the class builds a working pipe out of its own line. Each child is one section of pipe, the handoff is the joint between two sections, and in the third round one child steps back to make a gap so the class can see the water stop before it reaches the tap.

Plan for spills. Run the game on a hard floor or outside, use cups filled about halfway, and keep the two towels within reach. A dry version with blue pom-poms standing in for water works the same way and can be run on carpet.

Activity Directions

Set up the two tubs (3 min). Put a strip of floor tape at each end of an open space, about ten steps apart. Set one tub on the first strip and label it the well, and set the other tub on the second strip and label it the tap. Fill ten small cups about halfway and stand them in the well tub.
Build the pipe (5 min). Have the whole class stand in one line between the two tubs, shoulder to shoulder, close enough that each student can hand a cup to a neighbor without stepping. Tell the class that they are now one long pipe, that each person is one piece of that pipe, and that water can only move by going from one piece to the next. Give the student at the well end the job of picking up cups and the student at the tap end the job of setting them down.
Round one, the good pipe (6 min). On your signal, the well-end student picks up one cup and passes it along. Cups keep moving one after another until the well tub is empty. When the last cup lands, walk the class over to the tap tub and count the cups together, touching each cup once as you say a number. Write the count on chart paper.
Round two, faster (5 min). Move the cups back to the well tub and run the same round again a little faster, asking the class to keep the cups steady and not to skip a neighbor. Count the arriving cups the same way and add the second count to the chart paper beside the first.
Round three, the break (6 min). Before this round, quietly ask one student in the middle of the line to fold their arms and step one big step backward when you clap. Start the round, and clap after two or three cups have gone by. The cups will pile up at the gap and stop. Let the pause sit for a moment, then ask the class what just happened to the water and where it stopped.
Fix the pipe and debrief (5 min). Ask the class what the line needs so the water can reach the tap again. When someone says the missing person has to come back, invite that student to step in, and finish passing the rest of the cups. Then read the handout questions aloud and take answers from around the circle, ending with question five so the class leaves thinking about the crew whose job this is in a real town.

The Applewick Pipe Crew: A Kindergarten Cup Passing Chain Game — Kindergarten Science

Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Handout

In our game, what part of the town water system are the children in the line?
Where does the water start in our game, and where does it end?
One child stepped back and made a gap. What happened to the cups then?
What did the line need so the water could reach the tap again?
A real pipe cracks under a real street. What do you think the crew has to do?

From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.

Answer Key

Answer: The pipe. Each child is one section of the pipe that carries water from the well to the tap, and the whole line together is the pipe under the street.
Answer: It starts at the well tub and ends at the tap tub. Accept pointing at the two tubs, and accept "the well" and "the tap" as full credit.
Answer: They stopped at the gap. Accept any answer that says the water stopped, piled up, could not get through, or did not reach the tap.
Answer: The missing piece had to come back. Accept any answer naming the person stepping back into line, closing the gap, or joining the two ends together again.
Answer: Dig it up and put in a new piece of pipe. Accept any answer that names fixing, patching, or replacing the broken pipe so water can get to the houses, and accept "call the water crew" as full credit.

Differentiation

Support

Place students who find waiting hard at the two ends of the line, where the picking-up and setting-down jobs give them something to do on every pass. Use the dry pom-pom version with these students first so a dropped handoff carries no mess and they can practice the motion before water is added.

Extension

Ask these students to run a fourth round in which two gaps open at once, and to predict before the round starts where the cups will pile up. Have them draw the line on paper afterward, marking both gaps and the place each pile formed.

ELL supports

Pre-teach pipe, well, tap, and gap by pointing to a length of cardboard tube, the two labeled tubs, and a space you make between your own hands. Model one full handoff silently before the first round so the motion is clear without words, and accept pointing or acting out as a full answer to every handout question.

Extensions

Lay a row of cardboard tubes end to end on the floor and roll a marble through them, then pull one tube out so students see the same gap problem in a second material. Walk the class to the school's utility room or an outside spigot and look at the pipe where it enters the wall, asking students to trace with a finger which way the water is traveling.