‘Leap year, Leap year, When will you be?
Every FOUR years, THEN you’ll see!
You want more? We do too!
How many more can you leap to?’
This leap year rhyme has been
doing the rounds lately – and why not, considering the fact that the present
year 2016 is a leap year and it has come after a gap of four whole years! The
other day my young son looked at me with a quizzical expression and inquired
about the extra day in the month of February this year and how all the kids
were talking about it. Here’s how I decided to make the explanation simple for
him; perhaps it could help you too in order to explain the same to your kids.
- A leap year is different from other years as in it has 366 days instead of the usual 365 days.
- February is the month with the extra day, with 29 instead of 28 days.
- A leap year occurs every 4 years (here’s a good opportunity to test their multiplication table of 4 and ask them about the next leap year).
- February 29 is called a leap day.
- It takes the earth 365 days to orbit around the sun once - hence an earth year has 365 days in it.
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