Last week, February took a leap from the usual 28 days it has every year and leaped with an extra day – the 29th of February also known as “Leap Day”. So why did February 2016 have an extra day, what exactly is a leap year and how often do leap years occur?
Every normal year has 365 days. In a leap year, everyone gets an extra day with 366 days in a leap year. The extra day added is in the month of February, which gets 29 days instead of the normal 28 days. Leap years occur every four years. 2016 is a leap year and the next one is? Think, think… just add 4 to the last leap year ->2016+4=2020.
Test your math concepts to know if a year is a leap year:
A leap year is a year that can be evenly divided by 4 (for example 2012, 2016, 2020, and so on)
Except if it can be evenly divided by 100, then it’s not a leap year (for example 2100, 2200, etc)
Except if it can be evenly divided by 400, then it is (like 2000, 2400)
Ever thought about why this happens?
Well because it takes the Earth 365.242375 days to travel around the Sun… but doesn’t a normal year have only 365 days? Yes…
…so a leap year is simply a means of “catching up” on the lost 0.25 days each year!
Now, what if you were born on 29th February? Will you have a birthday only once in 4 years? Or will you not age at all?
People born on leap day (29th February) are called leap day babies or ‘Leaplings’ or ‘Leapers’. Leap day babies do have a birthday each year. They can choose either 28th February or 1st March in a non-leap year to celebrate! Wow! Isn’t it so cool to be able to choose a day to celebrate your birthday? You could even have fun on both!!!
Another cool thing these babies can boast about is their age. Suppose you are actually turning 100 but in leap years your leap age will only be 25. Now that is surely something to be very proud about, for only around 4 million people worldwide are born on leap day!
An even cooler thing is getting yourself registered with The Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies and flaunting your status as a ‘Leaper’!
Don’t get confused between a leap year and a leap day. Everyone gets an extra day; leap day that is the 29th of February every leap year.
A great way to help children remember the number of days in every month including a leap year is to have them memorize this fun Leap Year Rhyme!
Leap Year Rhyme
Thirty days has September,
April, June, and November;
All the rest have thirty-one,
Except for February alone;
February has twenty-eight days clear,
And twenty-nine in each Leap year!
Happy leap year to you all!
