What Happens When You Flush the Toilet?
Season 3 Episode 6
Themes: Curiosity
Plot Highlights
- The StoryBots get a call from a young boy named Joaquin who asks them the question, what happens when you flush the toilet? After giggling a bit at the question, the StoryBots realize that they don’t know the answer, so they prepare for transport to the outside world to find out.
- The StoryBots land in a bathroom The group lands in a bathroom and meets a plumber, Roger, played by guest star Jason Sudeikis. He’s working on fixing a toilet, and he tells the StoryBots about the pipes that connect all of the toilets underground. He also explains the importance of only flushing water, waste, and toilet paper, and warns them about flushing trash because the toilet might get broken like that one.
- Two bath toys sitting behind the StoryBots become offended when Roger says trash because it was their friend, a fellow bath toy, that fell into the toilet and broke it. The toys ask the StoryBots to find their friend and bring her back to bath time.
- The StoryBots end up falling down into the toilet as it flushes, and they land on a toy boat floating on the dirty water. Aboard, they meet the captain of the ship, who was also the missing bath toy. She’s determined to get back to bath time, and she tells the StoryBots of the four obstacles that they’ll have to overcome to make it through the wastewater treatment facility into the open ocean.
- The group reaches the first obstacle, “the gate,” which is a large screen that filters out the larger pieces of trash in the water. The captain turns their boat into a submarine, and under the surface of the water they find a hole in the gate that allows them to pass through.
- The submarine enters the separation tank, where heavy particles sink to the bottom and grease and oil rises to the top. They face their second obstacle, a machine that skims across the surface to remove the oil and grease. The captain navigates the submarine carefully around the machine to pass this second obstacle.
- Next, the group faces the third obstacle, “the beasts,” or the bad bacteria in the water. The bacteria start attacking the submarine, but then good microorganisms arrive and start eating the bacteria. The StoryBots chat with the good microorganisms, and they learn that they’ll eat so many bacteria that they get big and sink to the bottom so they can be removed as well.
- The final obstacle consists of bleach and UV lights which kill the remaining bad stuff in the water. Though the obstacle nearly destroys their submarine, they make it through and finally reach the open ocean.
- The StoryBots return to their boss and explain what happens when you flush the toilet - the water gets cleaned and returned to nature! The episode ends with a final song about this process.
Discussion Questions
After this episode, we encourage you to ask your child what they learned, and to encourage their curiosity by exploring further. Consider some of the following questions to get you started.
- What did the StoryBots learn in this episode about what happens after you flush the toilet? How did they learn it, and who helped them along the way?
- If your child is interested in learning more, you can watch this video on the water treatment process, featuring more information on the water cycle in addition to footage from a real wastewater treatment facility.
- Consider asking your child whether this episode left them with any questions of their own. If they have questions, you can explore internet or library resources together to find answers.
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