Land and Water

Earth is often called the 'Blue Planet.' This is because most of our world is covered in water. When we look at a map (a flat drawing of Earth) or a globe (a round model of Earth), we use the color blue to show where the water is. This includes huge oceans, deep lakes, and wiggly rivers. If you see a blue spot on your neighborhood map, it might be a local pond or a swimming pool!

The parts of the Earth that we walk on, build houses on, and plant gardens on are called land. On maps and globes, land is usually colored green or brown. Green is often used to show places with lots of trees and grass, like a park or a forest. Brown is often used to show dry places or tall, rocky mountains. Even though land feels very big to us, there is actually much less land than water on our planet!

If we could cut the Earth into four equal pieces, we would see that water covers almost three of those pieces! In math, we can say that water covers about $\frac{3}{4}$ of the Earth. Land only covers about $\frac{1}{4}$ of the Earth. This is why when you spin a globe, your finger is much more likely to land on a blue spot than a green or brown spot.