What are plates?

The Earth is made up of big, moving pieces called plates.

Imagine your favorite chocolate bar, it’s solid and doesn’t move much on its own. Now think about a puzzle with big, flat pieces that can slide around under your feet. That's like the Earth's crust, which is broken into giant slabs we call plates. These plates are always slowly moving, just like how the pieces of a puzzle might shift if you shake it gently.

Sometimes these plates move apart, like when two friends walk away from each other in a line. Other times they push together, like when two kids bump into each other on a playground. This movement can cause mountains to form or even make the ground shake, that’s an earthquake!

You might feel this movement if you live near the edge of one of these giant plates, especially during an earthquake. It's like being on a tiny boat in the middle of the ocean, and suddenly the water starts to ripple, only much bigger!