Welcome to the extraordinary year of 2024! Did you know this year holds a rare gem in its calendar? That's right, at the end of February, we're graced with a bonus day that occurs just once every four years - it's Leap Year! This unique phenomenon brings us Leap Day on February 29th, making it a day worth celebrating with your loved ones. As unofficially dubbed, the frog 🐸 takes the spotlight as the Leap Year mascot. What sets this year apart is its 366 days instead of the usual 365. So, mark your calendars for Thursday, February 29th, and get ready to indulge in a day filled with family fun and festivities right at home. Let's dive into some exciting facts, delightful recipes, and entertaining activities to make this Leap Day memorable for you and your kids.
Celebrate Leap Day / Year - February 29, 2024
Do something unique and special with your kids to celebrate Leap Day! Here are a few ideas to get you started . . .
Find local events and activities on Leap Day to Celebrate!
- Visit the Macaroni KID Conejo Valley - Malibu - Calabasas event calendar to see if there are any local 'Leap Day' happenings.
Make an Origami Jumping Frog:
Macaroni Tip: An index card is perfect for make an Origami Jumping Frog, but cardstock or construction paper will work too
Celebrate at Home with your family
Leap Day Fun!
- Honor the Frog, the unofficial Leap Day mascot: Play leapfrog! | make origami frogs | learn about frogs
- Have everyone in the family write letters to themselves. Open them on Leap Day 2028.
- Print pictures of things that leap — like rabbits, jumping beans, and children — and make a collage.
- Find out if any of your friends are Leap Year babies, then have a birthday party! Here are some printables and craft ideas for your party or just because!
- Have a dance party using only songs with "Leap," "Jump," "Day," or "Time" in the title. Start with "Jump, Jive, and Wail" by Brian Setzer Orchestra, "Look Before You Leap" by Suicide Machines, "Jump Around" by House of Pain, "Time After Time" by Cyndi Lauper, and "One Day" by O.A.R.
- Watch the movie Leap Year, starring Amy Adams, Matthew Goode, Adam Scott, and John Lithgow or here is our review of LEAP, the animated movie.
Frog Crafts:
- Frog Bean Bag Craft
- Frog Origami, You Can Print
- Paper Plate Frog Puppet
Frog inspired Recipes:
The History and Science behind Leap Year
Here's a great explanation for kids:
The problems with the calendar
- The first calendar: Hipparchus of Nicaea, an ancient Greek astronomer and mathematician, was the first to calculate that a calendar year - the amount of time it takes Earth to make one complete orbit around the sun - was actually 365.246 days. If we ignored this fact, the calendar would shift by approximately 6 hours each year. After 100 years, January 1st would effectively come at the time that January 25th comes now. After 1000 years, it would arrive in September!
- Another option: Add a six-hour day to the end of each year. The problem with this is that sunrise would come closer to noon in the second year, around dinnertime in the third year, and near midnight in the fourth year before returning to its "regular" time.
- Julian Calendar: Approximately a century after Hipparchus' discovery, Julius Caesar came up with a solution. In 45 BC, Caesar rounded the year up to 365.25 days and established the Julian calendar, which added a Leap Day every fourth year. However, science needs to be precise. Since he rounded up, the Julian calendar was essentially losing days. To make up for it, the entire world - at least those still using the Julian calendar, completely skipped 10 days in 1582 and the calendar jumped from October 4th to October 15th!
- Gregorian Calendar: So in this year, we began using the Gregorian calendar, which skips three leap years every 400 years. So the year 1600 was a leap year, but 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not. The year 2000 was a leap year, but 2100, 2200, and 2300 won't be. Confused? It gets worse!
- The Earth's rotation is slowing down ever so slightly: We lose a second about every 500 days. Since the 1970s, leap seconds have been added from time to time to our clocks. This is important because GPS satellites and other systems are designed to match the Earth's rotation.
Contribution by Macaroni KID Publisher Mom, Kyrie Collins
Enjoy a Leap Year Story with your kids:
Learn more about Leap Day / Year:
- NASA Science Space Place: What Is a Leap Year?
- National Geographic Kids: What is a leap year?
- The math behind Leap Days
- Calendar Calculations
- A Website for kids about the Leap Day
- Leap Day Traditions
- Leaplings: When Do Leap Day Babies Celebrate Their Birthdays?
- The History of Leap Day
Save the date for future Leap Years: 2028, 2032, 2036, 2040, 2044, 2048, 2052, 2056 . . .
Happy Leap Year from Macaroni Kid!!
