Mid-ocean ridge

Okay kiddo, so imagine the Earth is like one big puzzle with a bunch of different pieces. One of those pieces is called a tectonic plate, and it's like a big slab of rock that makes up the Earth's surface.

Now, imagine that these tectonic plates are constantly moving around, kind of like puzzle pieces sliding next to each other. Sometimes, two plates will come together and sort of crash into each other. That's called a collision.

But sometimes, two plates will move apart from each other. When that happens, a crack forms in the Earth's surface, almost like the zipper on your jacket. This crack is called a mid-ocean ridge.

The mid-ocean ridge is where magma (which is like really hot, melted rock) comes up from the Earth's mantle (which is a layer of the Earth under the crust). The magma cools and hardens, and over time it builds up to create new crust (which is just the outer layer of the Earth's surface).

So basically, the mid-ocean ridge is where tectonic plates are pulling apart and new crust is being created by hot, melted rock from deep inside the Earth. It's pretty cool!