What are relationship between deserts and droughts?

A desert is like a place that’s always dry, and a drought is when it gets drier than usual for a long time.

Deserts are places where there's very little rain, sometimes less than 25 centimeters per year. That means plants and animals have to be tough to survive there, just like how you might need a big drink of water after playing outside all day.

Droughts, on the other hand, happen when it doesn’t rain for a long time, even in places that usually get enough rain. It’s like your favorite snack is gone for weeks, and you have to eat something else instead.

Sometimes, droughts can turn normal areas into deserts, or make existing deserts even drier. If there's no rain for many months, the ground gets really dry, and it becomes harder for plants and animals to live there.

In fact, some deserts were once green places that turned dry because of long droughts, just like how a garden can turn into a patchy yard if you forget to water it.