Leap Year Day for Kids
Celebrate in 2008 with Educational and Fun Projects for Children
Celebrate Leap Year in 2008 with the following online projects for children that are fun, educational and free.
History of Leap Year
Centuries ago, the Roman calendar was commonly used. At that time, the Roman calendar consisted of 12 months which included 355 days.
Julius Caesar later established the Julian calendar which included 12 months and expanded the number of days each year to 365.25 days. This resulted in a 3-year-period with 365 days with the following year having 366 days. With the Julian calendar, all years divisible by four were considered Leap Years. Although the calendar was used until 1582, the Julian calendar was simply too long.
In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII instituted the Gregorian calendar. This modified calendar was created in order to coexist with the cycles of the seasons. The refined and adjusted Gregorian calendar added an extra day to occur every four years on February 29th, except for century years not divisible by 400. This rule omitted the three Leap Years every 400 years.
It takes the earth 365.25 days to orbit the sun, which is called a solar year. It is important the annual calendar matches the solar calendar so the seasons are in sync. Due to the refinement of the Gregorian calendar, our seasons occur during the same months every year.
The following websites offer fun and educational Leap Year Day projects for children.
Leap Year Day Electronic Cards
- Care2 Leap Year Greeting Cards - Whether it is a leap year birthday or a day to celebrate, the Care2 website offers 11 animated and fun leap ecards, for free. Cards can by personalized by adding message, title, music, stamp, and background. Various delivery options are also included. To easily locate from homepage, type "leapyear" in search box (no space between words).
- American Greetings 2/29 Leap Year Card - This cute animated card from American Greetings is animated and just plain fun. Personalize and send. How fun!
- 123Greetings Leap Year Cards - 123Greetings offers 4 fun animated Leap Year cards. The cards are easily customized by changing backgrounds, font style and size, and music. Gift certificates from GiveAnything are available. To easily locate from homepage, type “Leap Year” in the search box. Flash is required (free download).
- All-Yours .net Leap Year Cards- All-Yours.net offers 3 Leap Year postcards for free. Select background, layout, text color and music for a personalized card. The postcards also include code which can be added to MySpace, Friendster and various blogs. Type in "Leap Year" in the search box on main page to easily locate cards.
Miscellaneous Projects
- Leap Year Baby Word Game Challenge - This hangman style game from the Leap Year Baby website uses leap-themed words. Figure out the word by clicking on the letters of the alphabet. No hints are provided. Click "Spelling Challenge" on main menu to locate game.
- Leap Year Day Calculator - For those wondering when the next Leap Year is in this decade or one hundred years from now, the Leap Year Calculator from Leap Year Day provides the answers. Just enter the year in question and click “check years”. There is also an area to type in many years at once. To locate from main page, click on "Leap Year Calculator".
- Word Search Fun Leap Year Word Search Puzzle - This fun word search game is a printable project. To play, print and find the hidden words in the jumbled up letters.
- Leap Year Baby Sheet Music - The Leap Year Baby website offers 7 Leap Year songs in printable form. From waltzes to polkas, these nostalgic tunes are guaranteed to be hits. From the main page, click on “musical references” to easily locate sheet music. Adobe Reader is required (free download).
- Leap Year Day Poetry - Leap Year Day offers poetry from today and from years past. Poetry includes funny and cute poems, to sentimental and touching poetry. To locate from homepage, click "Poetry".
The above online projects provides an entertaining and educational look at Leap Year Day.
Sources:
Leap Year on Gregorian Calendars
