A leap year is a year that has one extra day in it and it usually occurs every four years in February.

A common year has 365 days whereas a leap year has 366 days a year.

If a leap day didn’t happen, six hours would be lost off the calendar every year. After 100 days our calendar would be off by around 24 days.

When is the next leap year?

The next leap year will occur on Saturday 29, 2020. After that, the leap year will occur on:

• Thursday 29, 2024
• Tuesday 29, 2028
• Sunday 29, 2032
• Friday 29, 2036

Why do leap years occur?

According to Enchanted Learning, “it takes the Earth about 365 1/4 days to make one entire orbit around the sun. By adding one extra day about every four years, the Earth is in the same point of its orbit at the same time of the calendar year each year”.

The Gregorian calendar, the calendar that is currently used, was created by an Italian physician Aloysius Lilius.

Before society used this calendar, the seasons would occur over different months each year.

This means that one year summer would occur in December and than the next year it would occur in March.

However in 1752, Britain and American colonies adopted the Gregorian calendar, allowing seasons to occur in the same month every year.

What happens if your birthday falls on the leap day?

If your birthday falls on the leap day, you can either celebrate it on February 28 or March 1 in a common year.

What is the leap year rhyme?

“30 days has September,
April, June and November
All the rest have 31,
Excepting February which has 28 days clear
And 29 days each leap year.”