travel_exploreDiscovery · Climate and change

🌡️ Climate and change

What is the difference between weather and climate? Simple, true climate and change facts for young children, each with a fun fact, a tiny activity and a question to talk about together.

Tap a question to reveal the answer, share the fun fact, try the tiny activity, then talk about it together.

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What is the difference between weather and climate? Revealexpand_more

Weather is what the sky is doing right now, sunny, rainy or windy, and it can change from hour to hour. Climate is the usual pattern of weather in a place over many years. So a single cold day is weather, but a place being cold most winters is its climate.

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Talk about itHow would you describe the usual climate where you live?

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Did you know?You can have a chilly day in a place with a warm climate, and a warm day in a cold one.

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Try itWrite down the weather each day for a week. Many weeks like that, added up over years, would show the climate.

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🌡️🏠What is the greenhouse effect?🔥Why is the Earth getting warmer?🍁Why do we have seasons?

🤖Still curious?How do scientists measure the climate of a whole region?arrow_forward

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What is the greenhouse effect? Revealexpand_more

Certain gases in the air act like a cosy blanket around the Earth. They let sunlight in to warm the ground, then trap some of that heat instead of letting it all escape back to space. This natural blanket keeps our planet warm enough for life. Without it, Earth would be frozen solid.

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Talk about itA blanket is cosy, but too thick a one gets too warm. Why might that matter for the Earth?

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Did you know?The Moon has no such blanket of air, so it roasts by day and freezes by night.

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Try itFeel how a blanket keeps your body heat close on a cold night. Greenhouse gases do that for the whole planet.

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🌡️🔥Why is the Earth getting warmer?📅What is the difference between weather and climate?🔄How does carbon move through nature?

🤖Still curious?Which gases act like the Earth's blanket?arrow_forward

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Why is the Earth getting warmer? Revealexpand_more

Over the last hundred years or so, people have burned huge amounts of coal, oil and gas for energy. That adds extra heat-trapping gases to the air, thickening the Earth's natural blanket, so the planet slowly warms. The good news is that people all over the world are working on cleaner ways to power our lives.

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Talk about itWhat is one small thing your family could do to save energy?

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Did you know?Trees, plants and oceans all help by soaking up some of those extra gases.

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Try itList three things at home that use energy. Cleaner energy for them means a thinner, healthier blanket for the Earth.

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🌡️🏠What is the greenhouse effect?⛽What are fossil fuels?🌞How can we make power from sun and wind?

🤖Still curious?What are some clean ways to make energy without warming the planet?arrow_forward

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How do we know what the climate was like long ago? Revealexpand_more

Nature keeps its own records. Deep layers of ice hold tiny bubbles of ancient air, tree rings show which years were wet or dry, and old rock and mud hold clues too. By reading these natural diaries, scientists can work out what the weather was like thousands of years before any thermometers existed.

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Talk about itIf nature keeps records in ice and trees, what records do you keep of your own life?

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Did you know?Ice drilled from deep in a glacier can hold air that is hundreds of thousands of years old.

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Try itLook at the rings on a cut log or tree stump. Wide rings mean good growing years, a clue to past weather.

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🌡️📅What is the difference between weather and climate?⏳How old is the Earth?🦴How do fossils form?

🤖Still curious?How can a bubble of old air tell us about the past?arrow_forward

🌡️ Climate and change

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