Leap day, that extra day added to February 29 every four years, exists for a very important reason: to keep our calendar in sync with Earth’s actual orbit around the Sun.
A year isn’t exactly 365 days long. It takes Earth roughly 365.2422 days to complete one revolution around the sun. That extra 0.2422 days might seem tiny, but over time, it adds up. If we didn’t account for it, our calendar would slowly drift out of sync with the seasons.
But the good news is that extra day gives us something fun to celebrate! Leap Day activities often have to do with frogs, as you’ll see below, but you don’t have to include frog themed things if you don’t want to. Let’s check out some fun Leap Day activities for kids.
The teacher behind Tejeda’s Tots is actually a leap day baby, so reading about what she does in the classroom (post includes links to paid resources) is a lot of fun. Ask your kids what day you think leap day babies should celebrate their birthdays and see if you get different answers.
Mama’s Learning Corner has a printable leap day unit study activity book that works for elementary school kids. It includes information on why we have leap year and how cultures have dealt with time through history. You can download a personal copy free when you sign up for emails, or buy a license for classroom use.
Teach Beside Me also has a little printable book about leap year and why we need that extra day.
Woo Jr. has some printable leap year activities including mazes and a word search, as well as a collection of frog coloring pages, a tracing page and other crafts.
If you want to go all in on frog things, try making a paper plate frog (Our Kid Things), a frog fly catch game (Toucan Box) or try your hand at making origami jumping frogs (Origami Fun).
If it’s warm where you live or you have space for jumping inside, you can have a long jumping contest, play leap frog or hopscotch. Spend some time in math counting to 29 or doing math problems that add up to 29. Do some leap year STEM with Science Schoolyard. And don’t forget to read a leap year book like Leap’s Day or tell some leap year jokes!
