A CBBC star has encouraged youngsters to get their creative juices flowing to come up with ways to drink more water.

TV presenter Stefan Gates, who fronts children’s food show Gastronuts, held the ‘Wacky Water Workshop’ at Bolton-by-Bowland CE Primary School in the Ribble Valley after the school won a national competition aimed at boosting the number of children drinking water on a regular basis.

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The workshop included demonstrations of water-based science experiments designed to educate children about the importance of drinking water and staying hydrated, including ‘making our own urine’ and ‘making your own sweat’.

The Key Stage Two pupils who took part came up with a range of ideas to be used in the Gisburn Road school to encourage everyone to drink more water, including creating posters and sending home newsletters, nominating a pupil to be the ‘water champion’ and placing labels on water bottles saying ‘drink me’.

The Wise up with Water challenge was launched by the Natural Hydration Council in partnership with The Children’s Food Trust and schools across the country were invited to create ideas to encourage pupils to drink water.

Stefan, who fronts Gastronuts and Incredible Edibles, said: “I really enjoyed delivering the workshop to the children. They came up with some brilliant ideas for the challenge that not only encouraged their classmates to drink more water but also their families.

“Water is very important for development and concentration in school. Taking part in the Wise up with Water challenge has encouraged children to really think about how much water they drink and just how important it is.”

William Mellin, 10, a year five pupil and ‘water champion’, said: “It’s been great learning about all the amazing things water can do. I really enjoyed taking part in the challenge. I already drink lots of water and was really pleased to become the water champion. Now my friends are choosing water too and it’s really fun for us all to drink together.”