Earth has the things that are needed for life - the right amount of sunlight, air and water. Because Earth is close enough to the Sun the living things on Earth receive the heat and light they need to grow. Earth is surrounded by a blanket of air called the atmosphere . Oxygen is one of the main gases in the atmosphere. Water helps to control Earth's weather and climate.
Water breaks up rocks into soil so that plants can grow.
There are seven large land areas called continents that make up the rest of the surface. On these continents are mountains, plains, volcanoes, deserts, rainforests and glaciers. When it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere, the North Pole is tilted towards the Sun. During the winter it is tilted away. This tilting causes the Sun to appear higher in the sky during the summer than during the winter.