Geography · Weather every day
Hot & cold places
Deserts vs. snowy lands.
Hot and Cold Places
Our world has very hot places and very cold places. Deserts are hot and dry with lots of sand. Snowy lands are freezing cold with ice and snow. These places are very different from each other!
What Makes Deserts So Hot?
Deserts get lots of sunshine nearly every day. The sun beats down on the sand all day. There are hardly any clouds to give shade. It can be hotter than a very hot oven! At night deserts can get quite cold though.
What Makes Snowy Lands So Cold?
Snowy lands are at the top and bottom of Earth. The sun's rays are weak there. Snow and ice cover the ground all year. The temperature stays below freezing point. That means water turns to ice!
Living in Hot and Cold Places
Animals and plants are clever! Camels live in deserts and store water. Cacti save water in their thick stems. Polar bears have thick fur for snowy lands. Penguins have fat to keep them warm.
Worked examples
1. Is Antarctica a desert or a snowy land?
- Antarctica is covered in ice and snow.
- It is freezing cold all year round.
- So Antarctica is a snowy land!
2. Why do deserts have very little rain?
- Deserts are very dry places.
- Clouds need water in the air to form.
- Hot air in deserts has very little water.
- So deserts get almost no rain!
3. Which animal would be happy in a snowy land?
- A snowy land is very cold with ice.
- The animal needs to stay warm there.
- A penguin has special feathers and fat.
- So a penguin would be happy there!
Try it yourself
A place has lots of sand and hardly any rain. Is it a desert or a snowy land?
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