What causes tectonic plate movement?

Tectonic plates move because of molten rock churning deep inside the Earth, like a giant soup pot.

Imagine you're sitting in a big pot of hot soup. The soup is bubbling and moving around, that’s what happens with the molten rock underneath our feet. This molten rock is called magma, and it's super hot and fluid.

Think of Earth’s inside like a giant pancake griddle. The magma moves under the tectonic plates, which are like giant puzzle pieces on top of this griddle. When the magma pushes up, it can lift these puzzle pieces, making them move.

Sometimes, the puzzle pieces bump into each other, that's when we get earthquakes or mountains! It’s like when you're playing with blocks and they crash into each other.

When the soup cools down, it hardens again, pushing the plates in different directions. This movement is slow but constant, just like how a pancake griddle warms up and shifts the things on top of it.