Why do we have leap years every four years?

We have leap years every four years because Earth takes a little longer than 365 days to go around the Sun.

Imagine you and your friend are playing a game where you run around a circular track together. You both start at the same time, but your friend is just a tiny bit slower than you. After one full lap, you’ve gone all the way around, but your friend hasn’t quite finished yet, they’re still a little behind.

That’s kind of what happens with Earth and the Sun. A year on Earth is actually about 365 days and 6 hours long. So every four years, that extra time adds up to about 24 hours, which is one full day.

To make sure our calendar keeps up with the seasons, we add an extra day, February 29th, every four years. That’s why we have leap years!

If we added a day every year, our calendar would get ahead of where Earth really is in its path around the Sun. But by waiting until every fourth year, we keep everything balanced and in sync with nature!