TempoLife › Features › Teacher and school pack › hydration-tracker
A week of hydration
Students record their drinks for a week on a simple grid, then reflect on when they drink, what counts towards fluid, and how needs change with weather and activity. Built around European adequate-intake figures.
Learning objectives
By the end of the activity, students can:
- Record their own fluid intake honestly over a week.
- Recognise that food and all drinks — not just plain water — contribute to hydration.
- Explain that fluid needs rise with heat and activity, so a single fixed number cannot fit everyone.
- Use thirst and a simple urine-colour check as everyday guides.
The activity
- Introduce (10 min): explain that European food-safety guidance gives an adequate total water intake of about 2.0 litres a day for adult women and 2.5 for men, and that this counts water in food and every drink. Stress it is a population guide, not a personal target to force.
- Set up (5 min): hand out the tracker and model one row together.
- Home task (1 week): students tick or note each drink and roughly how much, once a day.
- Review (next lesson): discuss patterns — the mid-afternoon gap, drinking more on sports days — and the reflection questions.
The worksheet
This prints as a clean sheet — press print and the site header, footer and this instruction row drop away. Photocopy for a class as needed.
Each day, note your drinks and roughly how much. Include water, milk, juice, tea, squash — everything. There are no right or wrong totals; the point is to notice your own pattern.
| Day | Morning drinks | Afternoon drinks | Evening drinks | Rough total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | ||||
| Tuesday | ||||
| Wednesday | ||||
| Thursday | ||||
| Friday | ||||
| Saturday | ||||
| Sunday |
1. When in the day do you tend to drink least? Why might that be?
2. Which of your drinks contain water even though they are not "a glass of water"?
3. On which day did you drink most, and what were you doing?
4. Besides drinks, name two foods you ate this week that are mostly water.
- ☐ I noticed I felt thirsty at least once and had a drink.
- ☐ I drank more on a day I was active or it was hot.
- ☐ I can name two foods that count towards fluid.
Assessing this activity
This resource is open-ended and has no single correct answer. Assess it on the quality of reasoning and evidence rather than a fixed key — the teacher notes below explain what a strong response looks like.
Teacher notes
- There is no target to hit and no scoring: this is a self-awareness task, not a competition, and it should never become one.
- Handle sensitively for any student with a medical fluid restriction — make participation about noticing patterns, and let them opt out of totals.
- Good cross-link to geography (climate and water) and PE (hydration around exercise). Fruit and vegetables being largely water is a nice surprise for most classes.
A teaching resource, not medical or dietary advice. Handle food, sleep, sugar and energy topics sensitively with young people, and follow your school's pastoral and safeguarding procedures if a pupil raises a concern.
Frequently asked questions
What level is this for?
Suits lower-secondary science, PSHE or health.
Can I print and photocopy it?
Yes — press print (Ctrl+P / Cmd+P) and the site chrome disappears, leaving the worksheet. It is free for classroom use.
Is there an answer key?
This resource is open-ended, so there is no single answer key — the teacher notes explain how to assess it.
Source: Standard public guidance (EFSA reference values, EU labelling rules, Atwater energy factors) and simple arithmetic · checked 2026-09-02
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Take the tracking activities further
The step-challenge and sleep-diary activities carry straight into TempoLife, a free habit tracker students can keep using after the lesson.