KeyStage

Key Stage 2 geography · Human and physical geography

KS2 climate zones and biomes: a guide for parents

In Key Stage 2, children learn that the world can be split into areas with a similar climate, and that each climate supports a particular kind of plant and animal life, called a biome. They learn where the main biomes are, such as tropical rainforest, desert, grassland and tundra, and why they run in belts across the globe. This explains why the Sahara, the Amazon and the Arctic look so different.

Climate zones, biomes and vegetation belts, explained

Climate is the pattern of weather a place has over many years, usually thirty or more. Weather is what is happening today. Children begin by learning this difference and then look at the three broad climate zones. The tropical zone lies between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, and it is hot all year. The polar zones lie roughly inside the Arctic and Antarctic Circles and are cold all year. In between are the temperate zones, which have clear seasons. The UK is in the northern temperate zone, with mild, changeable weather and rain throughout the year.

A biome is a large area with a similar climate and similar plants and animals. Schools choose which to study, and usually include the best-known ones: tropical rainforest (hot and very wet, with tall evergreen trees), savanna or tropical grassland (hot, with a wet season and a dry season), desert (very dry, with under about 250 millimetres of rain a year), temperate forest and grassland, coniferous forest known as taiga (long, cold winters), and tundra (so cold that the ground below the surface stays frozen all year and no tall trees can grow). Not all deserts are hot. Cold deserts exist too, and because it gets so little snow or rain, Antarctica counts as a polar desert.

Vegetation belts are the bands of similar plant life that stretch across the continents. They follow climate, so they run roughly in lines of latitude: rainforest near the Equator, then savanna, then desert near the Tropics, and so on towards the poles. Children should also know that belts are not perfect stripes, because mountains, ocean currents and distance from the sea all change the weather. Height matters too. If you climb a tall mountain, the plants change in layers much as they would if you travelled towards the pole.

Children are taught to link location, climate and living things, and to read simple climate graphs that show monthly temperature as a line and rainfall as bars. They name examples of each biome on a world map, for instance the Amazon, the Sahara, the African savanna, the Siberian taiga and the Arctic tundra. The curriculum also asks for the location and characteristics of a range of the world’s most significant physical features, so naming and locating examples really matters.

Words your child will hear

Climate
The usual pattern of weather in a place, measured over many years.
Climate zone
A broad area of the world with a similar climate, such as tropical, temperate or polar.
Biome
A large natural area with a similar climate and similar plants and animals.
Vegetation belt
A band of similar plant life stretching across a continent, following the climate.
Adaptation
A feature that helps a plant or animal survive in its habitat, such as a cactus storing water in its thick stem, or a rainforest leaf with a pointed tip.
Tundra
A cold, treeless biome near the poles where the ground below the surface stays frozen.
Savanna
A hot tropical grassland with scattered trees and separate wet and dry seasons.

What the National Curriculum says

The programme of study for Key Stage 2 says:

  • Pupils should be taught to describe and understand key aspects of physical geography, including: climate zones, biomes and vegetation belts, rivers, mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes, and the water cycle
  • This will include the location and characteristics of a range of the world’s most significant human and physical features.

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

A worked example: which biome is it?

A climate graph for a town shows temperatures of 25 to 28 degrees Celsius in every month, and heavy rain in every month, adding up to over 2,000 millimetres a year. Which biome is it, and what would you expect to find?

  1. Read the temperature. It is always warm and barely changes, so there are no seasons in the way we have in the UK. That suggests the town is in the tropical climate zone, between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.
  2. Read the rainfall. Heavy rain in every month, with no dry season, is typical of a tropical rainforest. A savanna would show a clear dry season, and a desert would have almost no rain.
  3. Place it on a map. Tropical rainforests are found close to the Equator, for example in the Amazon basin in South America, the Congo basin in Africa and parts of South-East Asia.
  4. Predict the plants and animals. Warmth and constant water let tall evergreen trees grow in layers: a high canopy, a shaded understorey and a dark forest floor. Many leaves have pointed “drip tips” that shed rain quickly, and the forest holds a huge variety of animals, from insects to monkeys, birds and jaguars.
  5. Check it against another biome. If winter temperatures fell to minus 20 degrees Celsius and there was little rain or snow, the biome would be tundra or taiga. The summer line on the graph tells you which: taiga has a short summer warm enough for conifer trees, while tundra stays too cold for trees all year.

The graph shows a tropical rainforest biome: hot and wet all year, close to the Equator, with tall evergreen trees and a great variety of wildlife.

Common mistakes and how to help

Using weather and climate as if they meant the same thing

Both describe temperature and rain, and a single day’s weather is easier to picture than a thirty-year pattern.

What helps: Say “weather is what you wear today; climate is what is in your wardrobe”. Look at an average climate graph and a forecast side by side.

Believing all deserts are hot and sandy

Pictures of the Sahara dominate, so children link the word desert with heat and dunes.

What helps: Explain that a desert is defined by very little rainfall. Look at images of rocky deserts, and of cold ones such as the Gobi or Antarctica.

Thinking rainforests are only found in South America, or that all hot places are rainforest

The Amazon is the most famous example, and children link hot weather with jungle.

What helps: Find rainforests in Africa, Asia and Australia on a map. Compare a rainforest with a savanna, which is also hot but has a dry season and very different plants.

Picturing biomes as neat stripes with sharp edges

Classroom maps use flat colours and clear borders to keep things simple.

What helps: Point out that the real boundary is gradual, and that mountains and coasts shift the pattern. If you walk up a big hill together, notice how the plants change with height.

How to help at home

  • Biome detective. Choose a biome, such as desert, and ask your child to think of five animals that live there. Then ask how each is adapted, for example by storing water or keeping cool.
  • Colour a world map. Using an outline map and a few coloured pencils, shade the main biomes and compare with an atlas. Ask where the UK’s biome fits, and why the pattern follows lines of latitude.
  • Compare two climate graphs. Find average monthly temperature and rainfall for a UK town and for a place in a very different biome. Ask which is hotter, which is wetter, and how that would change daily life.
  • Study local plants. On a walk, notice what grows near you, such as broadleaved trees, grass and hedges. Ask why they grow well here, and what would struggle in a much hotter or colder place.

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