ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Glacial period

Hello little one! Have you ever seen a snowman before? A glacial period is kind of like when the whole world becomes one big snowman!

You know how it gets really cold in winter? Well, during a glacial period, it gets even colder and stays cold for a very long time - like, thousands of years. So long that it's almost like the whole world is frozen.

During a glacial period, a lot of things happen. Huge sheets of ice, called glaciers, start to form and spread across the land. They can even cover entire continents! Where there used to be forests and grasslands, now there's just ice and snow.

This can have a big impact on animals and people living in those areas. Animals that can't handle the cold may have to move to warmer places or even go extinct. And people may have to find new ways to survive in such harsh conditions.

So while it might be fun to build snowmen and have snowball fights, a glacial period is something that can have a big impact on the world around us.