Why December Has The Longest Days?

December has the longest days because Earth is tilted and moves around the Sun, just like a merry-go-round.

Imagine you're on a merry-go-round, spinning around with your friends. When you're on one side of the ride, you feel like you're going up, that’s when it looks like the day is getting longer. Earth works kind of like that merry-go-round.

Earth takes about 365 days to go all the way around the Sun. But Earth isn’t straight, it's tilted, like a wobbly toy. In December, the part of Earth where we live is tilted away from the Sun. That might sound like it would make the day shorter, but here’s the fun twist: as Earth moves in its path, our tilt starts to change, and soon we’ll be tilting toward the Sun again.

Think of December like the end of a long game. Even though it feels chilly outside, the Sun is getting higher in the sky each day, just like when you're on the merry-go-round and start to go up again after going down.

So even though winter is still here, the days are slowly getting longer, like counting up from 1 to 30.