CHRISTMAS FOR KIDS

The North Pole: a little project for kids

Santa Claus is said to come from the North Pole. This is the northern most region in the world. Let's go and discover the North Pole!

Where is the North Pole?

This region, surrounded by the Arctic Ocean and Greenland, is very cold. The air is so cold and so dry that you can clearly hear someone speaking 3 miles away. There are glaciers, icebergs and lots of snow. The ice (test your knowledge with the ice quiz) is roughly 9 to 12 feet thick.

In winter, it's dark for 6 months. In summer, on the other hand, the sun never sets and it's daylight all season!

Greenland is the largest island in the world. Its centre is covered in ice throughout the whole year.

Parts of the Arctic ice are so old that animals that died millions of years ago have been discovered there. These animals have been preserved in the same way as things we deep freeze.

By 1880, no one had yet reached the North Pole (apart from Father Christmas). It was only after several attempts that explorer Robert Peary reached the North Pole and planted the American flag.

What is there at the North Pole?

Although everyday life in the Arctic regions is no joke, the polar circle has been inhabited for 4,000 years.

The inhabitants, known as Eskimos ("raw meat eaters"), are now called Inuits ("real people").

The Greenland Inuits are the people that live closest to the North Pole.

They survive simply on what they hunt and catch. They hunt whales, seals, reindeers... They eat the cooked or raw meat and use the skins to make clothes. They even use whale fat as fuel for their lamps. They have a nomadic lifestyle: when they run out of food, they leave the area to seek new hunting territories.

Some live in igloos. For the walls, they cut blocks of ice from the packed ice. A little frozen freshwater is used for the windows.

For centuries, Inuits have travelled across the snow on sledges pulled by Husky dogs. Today, things have changed and most Inuits travel on small motorised sledges mounted on skis, called "ski-doos".

Some boats, called ice-breaker boats, open up a path in the ice so others can sail across the Arctic Ocean.

Inuits use kayaks (type of small canoe), which are roughly 30 feet long, driven forward by a wooden paddle. The kayak is perfect for tackling icy water. They use harpoons to make holes in the ice for fishing.

Find out more about the Inuits

Expeditions to the North Pole

Animals that live in the cold

Which animals can live in the cold?

Seals, walruses, polar bears and caribous (type of reindeer) live in the Arctic regions.

Now let's see if you've remembered everything!!

(Click Start to begin. You'll have 30 seconds to answer each question)