What are annual cycles?

Annual cycles are things that happen every year, just like your favorite season or birthday.

Imagine you have a toy train that goes around a track. Every time it finishes one full loop, it starts again from the beginning. That’s kind of like an annual cycle, something happens over and over again each year.

Think about spring, summer, autumn, and winter. These are the four seasons, and they come in order every year. Just like your train goes around the track, the seasons follow a path that repeats each year. In spring, flowers bloom; in summer, it’s warm and sunny; in autumn, leaves change color and fall; and in winter, it gets cold and snowy.

You get older every year, just like how your train goes around the track one more time each loop. Each birthday is a little celebration of that cycle, a reminder that another full circle has been made.

So, an annual cycle is something that repeats every year, whether it's the seasons changing or you growing up!