Listed below are some activities that parents and their children might like
to do together to learn about a Leap year.
Talk about leaping animals
Ask your kids to bring in a picture or a toy of an animal that leaps ie. frog, kangaroo. Find a Leap Frog
Buy some little plastic frogs (they are very inexpensive at Walmart and the like). Make up about 6 boxes of jello following the directions on the jello package, black works good. I put the frogs in a big Rubbermaid container and pour the jello over the frogs after it has jelled. We tell the kids that the frogs are living in the black swamp and they have to dig in the dirt to find their frog. They love sticking their hands in the cold slimy jello.
Leaping and Jumping
We are going to play leap frog and hot potato using a frog. We have to pass him quick because he is so squirmy! (Just tell the kids that, don’t use a real frog 🙂
Frog Straw Game
I have cut out two frogs out of tissue paper. You have two teams and they each have a straw. The kids have to pick up the tissue frog while sucking in on the straw and run to the other side of the room, then they run back and the next player has to do it again. First team sitting wins.
Kangaroo Jumping Fun
For kangaroos, have pillowcases that you have sewn a pocket on the front and we have a baby “Roo” to go in it. The kids have a relay race like the old potato sack races but if baby Roo falls out they have to go back and do it again.
Froggy Snack
Have cupcakes frosted with green frosting and have different jellybeans and decorations to make frog faces and red shoestring licorice for the tongues.
Leap Year Jump
Jumping from hula hoop to hula hoop (each hula hoop representing a different year).
Tracing
Leap year comes in February, so have the children trace the word February.
Leap Year Song (sung to “Bingo”)
There was a year called Leap Year,
And February was its name-o,
L-E-A-P Y-E-A-R,
L-E-A-P Y-E-A-R,
L-E-A-P Y-E-A-R,
And February was its name-o.
General Leap Year Info
The time it takes the earth to spin once on its axis is a day. The time it takes the earth to complete its annual trip around the sun is a year. Unfortunately, these units of time don’t divide evenly.
This is the “spin” problem: if the earth spinned just a bit slower, a year would be exactly 365 days, instead of 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and a little over 45 seconds. If a day was a minute longer than it is, we wouldn’t need Leap Year Day.
