Leap Year!

 

Why do we have Leap Year?

Short Answer:

Leap days are important because they help our calendar match up with the same seasons every year.  Our calendars generally have 365 days.  The solar calendar (how long it takes the Earth to go around the sun) that influences seasons is about 365.2422 days long.  If we don't make up for the difference, eventually our seasons won't fall in the same months every year!

Long Answer:  National Geographic for Kids

Fun Facts:

• The first Leap Year was introduced in 46 BCE by Julius Caesar in Rome.
• It takes someone with a birthday on Feb. 29th 72 years to reach voting age (18)!
• People born on Leap Day are sometimes called leaplings.
• An Irish legend states that St. Brigid struck a deal with St. Patrick to allow women to propose to men every four years.  An offshoot of the original legend is that Feb. 29 is called "Bachelor Day", and a man was expected to "pay a penalty such as a gown or money, if he refused a marrage proposal from a woman on Leap Day."
• There are 4 million people in the world that are Leap Day babies.
• Every year divisible by 4 is a Leap Year; except every year divisible by 100 is NOT a Leap Year, unless the year is also divisible by 400, then it is a Leap Year.  Did you follow that?
• The Summer Olympic Games are held every four years on leap years.
• There are 525,600 minutes in a typical calendar year. On leap years, there are 527,040 minutes.  What will you do with the extra 1,440 minutes this leap year?