The Seven Big Continents

Our planet Earth is covered in two main things: water and land. Most of the water is in our huge oceans. The largest pieces of land on Earth are called continents. Think of a continent like a giant island, but much, much bigger! While an island might have one beach, a continent can have many countries, mountains, and forests all on one piece of land. There are exactly $7$ of these massive land pieces on our planet.

Each of the $7$ continents has its own name and special features. They are: North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and Antarctica. Asia is the largest continent of all, while Australia is the smallest. Antarctica is the coldest because it is at the very bottom of the world and covered in thick ice!

When you look at a world map, the continents stay in the same spots. North America and South America are on the left side (the West). Europe, Africa, and Asia are grouped together in the middle and right. Australia is a big island sitting by itself in the bottom right. Antarctica is the long white strip at the very bottom.

Even though they are all 'big,' some are much bigger than others. We can rank them from the $1^{st}$ biggest to the $7^{th}$ smallest. Asia is the $1^{st}$ biggest. Africa is the $2^{nd}$ biggest. Australia is the $7^{th}$ biggest (which means it is the smallest).