If you have tried explaining leap year to a young child, the answer may get complicated quickly (after the second “but why…?”). Here are a few fun facts about leap year to share with your children or students in celebration of February 29!

Fun Facts about Leap Year

• A leap year has an extra day for a total of 366 days. The extra day is added onto the shortest month, February.
• The Romans first designated February 29 as leap day.
• The Julian calendar was formed in 45 B.C., named after Julius Caesar. The solar calendar year was determined to be 365 days and 6 hours. At the end of four years, these extra hours add up to 24, or one full day.
• Leap years are divisible by four.
• The Julian calendar was used until 1582, when Pope Gregory XIII further refined the system. This Gregorian calendar is the one in most common use today.
• The odds are that 1 person in 1,461 will be born on February 29, which is less than one-tenth of one percent of the population.
• If you were born in 1968, you would be 13 in leap years but actually 52 years old; if you were born in 2004, you would be 4 in leap years but actually 16 years old.

Sources: Astronomy Picture of the Day, NASA; Enchanted Learning, and Leap Year Day.

How Do You Really Know If It’s a Leap Year?

These two sites offer everything you need to know to calculate a leap year:

The Math Is Fun site provides this simple overview. Leap years are any year that can be evenly divided by 4 (such as 2012, 2016):

• except if it can be evenly divided by 100, then it isn’t (such as 2100, 2200)
• except if it can be evenly divided by 400, then it is (such as 2000, 2400)

This Science World article provides an in-depth explanation of the mathematical equations and astronomy behind the creation of leap year.

Leap Year Activities and Books for Children

• The Leap Year Day site provides a book list for children (and adults) with a leap year theme.

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Theresa Wooler has more than 10 years’ experience in K–6 classrooms as a parent volunteer and homeschool educator, has taught high school English, and is currently involved in education through Evan-Moor’s marketing communications team.