What to tell preschool children about the desert. Journey to the desert
The script was written for an educational children's holiday.
There were three children (two girls and a boy) aged 5.5-6 years.
Room decoration
- Cardboard pyramid. Needed not so much for the script, but for the right mood
- Sphinx made of cardboard
- Figurines of Egyptians (carved from photographs of ancient papyri)
- Desert - a basin with sand or semolina
- African animals (toys)
- Treats: dried fruits (dates, figs), fruits, vegetables (cucumbers, peppers), nuts, pita bread, cheese, cookies, oriental sweets.
Introductory part
Find Egypt on the map, ask what the children know about it. It is better to talk about the past by showing events on the time line. First, indicate our time, then look how long ago Ancient Egypt appeared, when the Great Pyramids were built. Tell us about Nefertiti (about beauty, the details of her life are not a children's topic). Ask if the children would like to meet her.
Come up with a time travel ritual. Our children remember the magic words from different fairy tales, join hands, conjure: “Abracadabra, we want to be transported to Ancient Egypt, in the time of Queen Nefertiti.” A magical wind blows, and we find ourselves where we need to be.
IN Ancient Egypt children dress up in golden brocade collars and put on beads and bracelets (both men and women loved jewelry). After that, ask how to get to the queen, what needs to be done so that the guards let visitors into the palace. Perhaps someone will offer to bring gifts or get through a secret passage, or the children will be confused. Tell them about oracles and how they were used in ancient times to answer an important question. The oracle at the feast (a plastic canister with a hole pasted over with papier-mâché) contains the answer on how to get to the palace.
Author of this and other photosAnastasia Lipatova
Of course, the answer is written in hieroglyphs. We had the key to them in this book. But you can set the correspondence between Russian letters and hieroglyphs yourself, by analogy with the English version.
Main part
The oracle's message reads "Collect the beads." The facilitator can explain to the children that now they need to complete the tasks of different characters who will meet on the journey and receive beads. Homemade beads, molded from clay, decorated with beads.
Bazaar. A merchant meets the children at the bazaar (hereinafter, all the characters are cardboard figures, printed out from here). He promises a bead if the children help him make silver medallions. One of the ways of making jewelry in Egypt is chasing. On a thick foil with chopsticks, you need to squeeze out the pattern.
desert I. The merchant says that several beads are far away in the desert. Since you can’t go there on foot, we are looking for a camel. He must be politely asked to take the children and feed them with imaginary thorns. The camel is made of a toy camel, a blanket and pillows. Children sit on horseback and move, pushing off the floor with their feet. At the signal "sandstorm!" they should all hide under the covers together and freeze.
Arriving at the place, the children see a bowl of semolina. It contains figurines of the inhabitants of the desert and three beads are hidden. An additional difficulty is the sandworms that need to be driven away (I used the idea of this game).
Great Nile. Before you go to the river, tell us a little about what role it played in the Ancient Egyptian civilization, and that now it is one of the two longest rivers in the world. In the Nile (a bathroom with tinted water) a jar of beads floats. It is guarded by crocodiles (cut out of cardboard). Children throw coins at crocodiles until the predators go to the bottom (cardboard gets wet and sinks quickly, so do not throw crocodiles into the water in advance). After that, they take out a jar of beads.
Oasis. The host tells the children what an oasis is and promises to give a bead if they tell which tree the Egyptians considered the sacred tree of life growing here. As a hint, the facilitator asks questions, and the children add up the name of the tree from the first letters of the answers to them. Questions:
- Mythical creature with the body of a lion and the head of a man (Sphinx)
- Designations of words or letters among the ancient Egyptians (Hieroglyphs)
- The sacred animal that the Egyptians called "miu" (Cat)
- A place in the desert where there is a source of water and many plants (Oasis)
- "Inhabitant" of the pyramid (Mummy)
- An animal that carries people and goods. But not a camel. (Donkey)
- Egyptian sun god (Ra)
If the children do not know the answer to any of the questions, the leader prompts them (at our holiday, only the last question caused difficulties). He can also comment on other answers, adding some details. And you need to tell about the sycamore, show his photo.
Library. Children come to the scribe and he promises a bead in exchange for new scrolls of papyrus. Papyrus is easy to make out of paper (roll up, fasten and cut into a third to make leaves) and spread around the room so that the children collect it first. Then you need to cut off the root (tell that the roots are edible) and leaves, and cut the stem lengthwise. Get a few stripes. They are folded, as for real papyrus, with one layer along and the second layer across. The presenter says that papyrus has sticky juice and under pressure the parts are firmly connected. And at the holiday they can be lubricated with PVA. At the end of the holiday, children can write something on the resulting papyri.
fields. Children come to the peasants and they ask for help in making irrigation canals. There are two banks of clay in the tray, in the center there is a longitudinal depression with water, from which you need to dig channels with chopsticks.
Pyramid. The last few beads are in the pyramid. But the road to them is guarded by a sphinx that asks riddles. Riddle: “Why did the ancient Egyptians call their country Kemet (black earth)”. All the necessary information (about how important the Nile was, how well everything ripened on the fields fertilized with its black silt) the children received when they were digging channels. But they may need leading questions to answer the sphinx.
On the side of the pyramid there are recesses, some of which contain beads. In others, it was supposed to put something unpleasant to the touch. But we chose gummy worms, which the children were only delighted with.
The beads are collected. Now the children divide them among themselves, put them on a cord in turn and carry them to the palace. At the entrance they are met by a guard. He gives some task (for example, write his name in hieroglyphs) or is content with explaining to the children who they are and where they are going.
Lydia Kuranova
Lesson to familiarize preschoolers with the natural zones of the earth. Theme: "Desert"
Theme: "Desert"
Integration of educational areas: "Cognition", "Communication", " Physical Culture"," Labor.
Types of children's activities: play, cognitive research, productive, communicative, musical and artistic.
Cognition(formation of a holistic picture of the world). to acquaint with the climatic conditions of hot continents, to deepen and systematize the children's understanding of the animal and plant world of the desert, the understanding that in order to preserve nature it must be protected; develop cognitive interest in the inhabitants of the desert, curiosity, imagination; to cultivate love for nature, interest and desire to study it.
Communication: to teach children to maintain a conversation about the inhabitants of the desert, to reason, to express their point of view.
Cognition(development of constructive activity) to teach children to build a model of a desert from sand with its inhabitants.
Physical Culture. to form various types of cognitive activity in the process of motor activity.
Dictionary Enrichment: oasis, tornado, saxaul, dunes.
Planned results: shows interest in new knowledge; formulates answers to the questions posed by the teacher on the content of the story, using in speech complex sentences different types; knows the inhabitants of the desert; knows how to build a model of the desert with its inhabitants.
Material: globe; a box with low sides, sand (for a desert model); figurines of animals and plants of the desert; pictures depicting animals, plants and the desert landscape; transparent glass, sand, water for experience; puzzles; musical accompaniment (the sound of rain, thunder).
Preliminary work: looking at the globe, continents, geographical map: finding deserts, mountains, rivers and their designation on the map.
Preparatory work: prepare a box with low sides, fine sand.
Lesson progress
1. The teacher's story about the desert (use demonstration material - pictures with images of plants and animals of the desert).
1/7 of the entire land area of the Earth is occupied by deserts. Deserts are very dry areas where there is very, very little rain per year. The largest and hottest desert on the planet - the Sahara - is located in northern Africa (show on the globe). The vegetation of the desert is poor. Plants do not form a continuous cover. They grow in bunches, rare bushes. Between which cracked clay or dry sand is visible. There are some areas where there is no vegetation. Summers in the desert are hot and there is little rainfall, so plants grow here that can tolerate prolonged drought. Their roots go deep into the ground, because only there, in the deep layers of the soil, can they find moisture. Small leaves, characteristic of desert plants, contribute to less evaporation of water from their surface. Some plants have thorns instead of leaves.
At noon it is very hot, at such a time you can easily bake an egg in hot sand.
In every hot desert, once a year there comes a time when plants suddenly bloom. It happens when the rain comes, most often in the spring. If it starts to rain, then a strong, weak rain would dry up on the way to the ground - it's so hot in the desert.
Desert plants are unusual.
The cactus has a soft, like a sponge, trunk that gets fat full of water after rain. It has no leaves. The cactus accumulates water in green trunks.
Mastic tree, roots up to 30m in length.
White and black saxaul - the roots go deep into the ground; instead of leaves - scales.
Camel thorn and wormwood still grow, lilies and red poppies bloom.
The surface of the desert is hilly. Often there are large hills of fine sand. These are dunes.
A tornado often occurs in the desert. This is a huge column of sand, raised by the wind. It's impossible to fight him. He sweeps everything in his path.
The fauna of the desert is also unique. Animals are undemanding to food and water. Their coloring is the color of the surface scorched by the sun - yellow-gray. They have adapted to the extreme heat. Many of them hide in dense, shady places during the hot part of the day, in burrows, appearing at dusk or at night to hunt or graze.
Lizards don't drink water. They have enough of the liquid that they receive with food. Special teeth on the fingers prevent them from sinking into the sand, and they glide very quickly on the sand, thanks to the "sand skis". They live in minks abandoned by animals, or they dig themselves. For protection purposes, they use a self-mutilation reflex - they discard the tail, which grows back over time.
Turtles (about 20cm long) can weigh 1.5-2kg; They feed on plant food, sometimes small insects.
Owls, snakes, scarab beetles, goitered antelopes, toads, wild donkeys, insects live in the desert: locusts, tarantulas, scorpions, beetles. The monitor lizard is the largest. The length of the gray monitor lizard is 1.5m. Due to its large size, it is called the desert crocodile.
One of the most interesting animals lives in the desert - the camel. A camel is not only a vehicle. It easily passes through loose sands, because its “sandshoes” are soft and wide. It feeds on bitter-salty grass, saxaul, wormwood, camel thorn. A camel can live without water for 2-3 weeks by feeding on water-containing plants. Tens of liters of water can be lost in hot weather and does not die of thirst, but only dries up, loses weight. But then, replenishing it, he drinks 13 buckets of water in 10 minutes. Water, like a sponge, is absorbed by all parts of the body. They have calluses on their knees, chest and heels. For what? In such “calls shoes” it is very convenient to walk through the gravel-rocky desert and soft sand, without getting stuck in it and not getting burned. A thick coat serves as a sure protection against heat and cold. Long legs are comfortable when walking, a long neck allows you to see danger in a timely manner, thick long eyelashes protect your eyes from dust and sand. Water and food are stored in two humps. The camel is called the "ship of the desert". Why do you guys think? (because they transport salt, sugar, timber, cotton, grain, flour). For the desert, this is the cheapest and most convenient transport. Why? (expensive fuel is not needed, various trailers carrying cargo, they are unpretentious in food).
Almost everywhere there is underground water trapped in solid rock, but there are a few places where solid rock - rocks - come to the surface. These places in the deserts are called oases. Plants such as date palms grow only near oases, where their roots can reach the water. Many desert birds such as the sand partridge and larger animals such as foxes regularly visit oases to drink water.
Conversation "The desert and its inhabitants"
Target: To form a holistic view of the children about the desert.
Tasks:
Continue to form children's ecological ideas about the diversity of nature, about the desert and its inhabitants;
Summarize children's ideas about the relationship of natural conditions with the life of plants and animals;
Learn to answer questions using complex sentences in speech;
Exercise in the ability to distinguish and name representatives of the animal and plant world of the desert;
Develop cognitive activity, communication skills, the ability to reason, make simple conclusions, establish cause-and-effect relationships, the ability to classify;
To form the ability to listen to each other when discussing problematic issues;
To promote the upbringing of independence and activity;
Bring up careful attitude to nature through the formation in children of an understanding of the relationship and interdependence of all objects and phenomena in nature.
Preliminary work:acquaintance with the diversity of nature, flora and fauna of the desert, conversations with children about the desert, looking at lustrations about the animal and plant world of the desert.
Material: layout of the desert, illustrations of animals and plants of the desert, Lesovichok, game "Lotto" Animals ", letter.
The course of the conversation.
Children, someone is knocking on our door, who could it be?
This is our old friend Lesovichok. He brought us a letter that he recently received. Will we read? “Hello, my friend Lesovichok! The guardian of the great desert Sandstone writes to you. I invite you to visit me in the desert. Come quickly." Lesovichok invites us to go on a journey with him. Do you want to go to the desert? Then close your eyes and listen to me:
Garden path They go to the camp
Covered with sand. To the music of calls.
But it's bad if there are a lot of lying trees
The sand is all around. Growing in the sands.
Here is the yellow page - Leafless boughs
Desert country. Bent down to dry ground
The sand is spinning on it, tenacious and prickly
Rushing like a wave. Saxaul shrub.
No one knows where, And the wind carries the clouds
No one knows where Hot sand.
Camels run along it, Flying sand goes
Steppe trains. On the attack, like troops ...
Here we are in the desert. We open our eyes.
We approach the desert layout with the children.
What do you think the word "desert" comes from? - I think that the word "desert" is formed from the word "empty".
Do you know why the natural area was named that way? - Deserts - areas earth's surface, where, due to the too dry and hot climate, only a very meager flora and fauna can exist.
What are the deserts? - Sandy, clayey, rocky.
The hottest desert is in Africa. Her name is sweet, but not sugar - the Sahara Desert.
Where is the world's largest desert, the Sahara? The world's largest desert, the Sahara, is in Africa.
The desert is in the hottest place on earth. The sky here does not know what clouds are, there is yellow sand all around. The earth is heated by the sun like a furnace.
What do you guys think the desert looks like? The desert is like a sandy sea.
That's right, guys, the desert is like a huge sandy sea. It seemed to be frozen. When the wind blows, dunes “run” along it instead of waves, therefore, outwardly, the desert looks like a frozen sea. When this sea calms down, its surface becomes even and smooth, because the waves settle. When the wind subsides in the desert, its surface remains uneven, "agitated", because the sand retains the shape of waves for some time.
What is the climate like in the desert? - The climate is hot, it rarely rains, the sun shines brightly, sometimes strong winds blow.
Do you know what a sandstorm is? - A sandstorm is when a strong wind blows and raises the sand.
True, but whether this is true or not, we will check.
Conducting experiments.
Experience 1. "The emergence of a storm"
Divide into pairs for the experiment. (They approach the tables) First, one of you will blow into the tube, and the second will observe what is happening in the glass, then you will change.
What did you learn? What did you do for this? What did you see? What can be the conclusion? (children's answers)
Conclusion: a strong wind raises the sand, and so there are sandstorms.
Fizkultminutka.The game "We are grains of sand, we are lumps of clay"
Game progress. A strong wind blew and grains of sand flew in the air (children run freely around the group room). The wind died down and the grains of sand fell to the ground. (Children squat). The wind blew on the clay and it gathered into lumps (the children get up and gather in small groups, closely clinging to each other). We repeat 2 - 3 times.
Yes, guys, the desert is dry, hot, it rarely rains, and the sun bakes strongly and mercilessly. Do you think plants can survive in such conditions?
What plants can survive? Name them. - Cacti, camel thorn, saxaul. - We arrange the silhouette images of plants on the desert layout.
Why do they survive in the desert? - They survive in the desert because they can store water in their stems and leaves, and they have a very long root.
I suggest checking what happens to the water in the desert. (Go to tables)
2. Experience "What happens to the water in the desert"
Take a glass of water and pour it into a glass of sand. What did you see? What can be the conclusion? (children's answers)
Conclusion: water seeps through the grains of sand and goes down.
If there are few plants in the deserts, then what do the animals that live in the desert eat? - they feed on small rodents, insects, and whatever plants they find. And they still try to settle closer to the oasis.
What is an oasis? - An oasis is a place near a reservoir, an island of vegetation in the desert.
What animals can we meet on the banks of the Nile in an oasis? Desert? (children name animals and put toys on the surface of the layout.)
Now guess the riddles:
No ears, no legs
A ball in thorns is ... (Hedgehog)
stone on legs
Crawling along the path
Shell-shirt
It is all ... (turtle).
A thorn is tastier than a lot of dishes
She is adored by a humpbacked ... (Camel).
What do you know about camels? - This is an animal of large size, adapted to living in deserts and steppes. There are two types of camels: two-humped, or Bactrian, and one-humped, or dromedary. It has long been known that the camel is a very hardy animal and can live up to 40 years. A camel can go without water for almost two weeks and about a month without food, but when it gets to the water, it can drink almost 100 liters. Camel hair is considered a good medicine for various diseases. In the old days, camels were intended for cargo transportation, and during wars they were used to intimidate the enemy. There are 2 types of camels: one-humped and two-humped. The hump of a camel protects its back from the scorching hot sun.
The camel caravan goes through the desert, and we return home.
We're going on a long trip
Kuban, Pereyaslovskaya, the kindergarten is waiting for us.
It's hot in Africa, but warm at home.
Had a good time with friends.
Chorus: Africa, Africa, goodbye, Africa, Africa.
Here we are at home.
And now I invite you to play the game. There are pictures of different animals on the table. And you need to choose only the inhabitants of the desert. Start choosing.
Well done, you have correctly chosen all the animals of the desert.
Outcome:
What new, interesting things did you learn today about the desert, animals and plants of the desert?
"Desert Exploration".
Target:
Expansion and consolidation of children's knowledge about life in the desert, about the properties of sand.
Encourage the development of fine motor skills in children's hands,using an unconventional drawing method.
Tasks:
Educational:
Deepen and systematize children's ideas about the animal and plant world of the desert;
- Teaching children to create patternscolored sand on paper.
Developing:
Develop the skills of cooperation in a team and in pairs, follow the rules and norms of behavior in joint activities;
Develop cognitive interest in the inhabitants of the desert, curiosity, imagination;
Develop interest in experimental activities;
- Develop fine motor skills handsby painting with colored sand.
Vocabulary enrichment: Sahara desert, oasis, dunes, camel caravan, jerboa, camel thorn.
Educational:
Cultivate an interest in nature.
- Cultivate independence, accuracy in work.
Integration of educational areas : cognitive development, social and communicative development, speech development, artistic and aesthetic development, physical development.
Equipment: Computer, screen, projector, music center, music discs, presentation for the lesson, sandbox, magnifying magnifiers, sand scoops, funnels, three-liter jars with lids, tubes for juice, deep plates.
OOD progress:
Educator: Hello guys!
Today we have guests. Look at the kind, affectionate faces of our guests. Let's say hello.
Gather the children in a circle
You are my friend and I am your friend
Hold hands tightly
And smile at each other.
Our hands joined, conveyed warmth and kindness to each other. They made us friends!
(Sound of the wind)
Educator: What is it? What is this sound? It suddenly became cold.
Children: it's the wind
Educator: But this is not a simple wind, north, cold. Guys, look at the screen, magic lights lit up. Let's find out what happened.
Video letter from Umka:
Educator: Guys, where do you think you can find a lot of sand.
Children: In desert.
Educator: That's right, in the desert. To help Umka and learn as much as possible about the sand, we need to go to the desert. But how do we get to the desert? (children's answers)
Educator: I suggest you go on a journey on a modern transport - Bystrolet.
(Flight simulation).
Educator: Well, guys, we are in the desert.
See what vast expanses, and so much sand. The wind blows strongly in the desert, it carries the sands. These sandy hills are called dunes, and the wind is called dry wind. Desert wind causes sandstorms.
Educator: Do you recognize this plant? How did it adapt to life in the desert?
Children: Yes, it's a cactus. The cactus has thorns instead of leaves. And the root goes deep into the sands, where there is water.
Educator: Cacti survive in deserts because they store water in their stems. Instead of leaves, they have sharp thorns! Some cacti have very beautiful flowers. A plant grows - camel's thorn, which the camel feeds on.
Educator: But besides plants, there are also animals and birds, insects and reptiles in the desert.
Let's walk along the hot sands of the desert and see who else lives in the desert?
Children: turtles.
Educator: Guys, where do turtles spend their time?
Children: most spend their time in a secluded place.
caregiver: Look guys, here are the lizards. This is the largest lizard, what do you think it's called?
Children: monitor lizard
Educator: Spiders live in the desert. And there I see poisonous scorpions crawling on the sand. You need to walk carefully in the desert, as there are a lot of different poisonous snakes here.
Educator: What are these little animals?
Children: These are jerboas.
Educator: Where do jerboas hide from the sun?
Children: jerboas hide from the sun in sandy burrows.
Educator: But what is it? In the middle of the desert we see a green island - a lake, palm trees. This is an oasis. What is an oasis?
Children: children's answers.
(a place in the desert where there is enough water, palm trees grow there, and the land around the oasis is very fertile).
Educator: Guys, the largest desert in the world is called the Sahara. The Red Sea is located next to the Sahara. It is also called the Dead Sea because it contains a lot of salt and no one can survive there. In the Red Sea, the water is so salty that it is impossible to swim in it, and not a single object sinks.
Educator: The desert is full of dangers. One of them is called quicksand. Have you heard of quicksand. (children's answers).
caregiver: Guys, we promised Umka to find out about the sand. To do this, we need to go to the laboratory, where we will confirm the facts about the desert. But first, let's take a break:
In the morning from the black cloud
It rained for an hour
Damp sand loose
Behind our gate.
I got down to business right away.
And he built a house with a window.
And in the morning the sun warmed
And my house collapsed.
Experience 1. In the desert, we learned about the dry wind, which creates dunes and sandstorms. Let's create a sandstorm too.
Take the tubes, insert them into the lids of the jars and gently blow on the sand. What's happening? - (grains of sand scatter because they do not stick to each other).
Conclusion: loose sand.
Experience 2. We said that the Red Sea is called "dead" because of the high salt content. It is impossible to drown in saline water. Now we will check this fact with the help of experiment.
IN fresh water chicken eggs are placed - the eggs begin to sink. Then a few tablespoons of salt are added to the water, mixed so that the salt dissolves - the eggs do not sink.
Educator: Guys, look, I brought you a picture of the desert. Look, dunes are painted here, but, in my opinion, someone is missing here.
caregiver: Who is missing in our desert?
Children: Camels, turtles, jerboas, etc. live in the desert.
Educator: Exactly! I completely forgot about them. What to do?
Children: do it yourself.
Educator: I propose to make animals for the desert with your own hands! I suggest you do it in a magical way - with colored sand!
Let's remember how to draw with sand:
1. First you need to glue the surface,
2. Then gently sprinkle sand, (with a pinch)
Children paint with sand. Individual assistance and supervision of the educator.
After work, children wipe their hands with a napkin.
Educator: And now it's time for us to return to the group. We now know a lot about sand, about the desert. Children, let's tell Umka what you learned today.
Children list.
Umka: Well done, guys. I really liked that you know so much about the sand, about the desert, so I want to give you gifts. Until we meet again, friends!
MBDOU " Kindergarten"Rainbow"
"Desert Exploration"
Organized educational
activity
Educator:
Mishina Maria Viktorovna
Aksubaevo, 2017
Despite the fact that its very name "desert" comes from such words as "empty", "emptiness", this amazing natural object is filled with diverse life. The desert is very diverse: in addition to the sand dunes that our eyes habitually draw, there are saline, stony, clay, and also snowy deserts of Antarctica and the Arctic. Taking into account the snowy deserts, this natural zone belongs to one fifth of the entire surface of the Earth!
Geographic feature. The meaning of deserts
The main distinguishing feature of the desert is drought. The reliefs of the deserts are very diverse: insular mountains and complex uplands, small hills and layered plains, lake depressions and dried up centuries-old river valleys. The formation of the relief of deserts is greatly influenced by the wind.
Man uses deserts as pastures for livestock and areas for growing some cultivated plants. Plants for feeding livestock develop in the desert due to the horizon of condensed moisture in the soil, and desert oases, flooded with sun and fed by water, are exclusively good place for growing cotton, melons, grapes, peach and apricot trees. Of course, only small areas of deserts are suitable for human activity.
Characteristics of deserts
Deserts are located either next to the mountains, or almost on the border with them. High mountains prevent the movement of cyclones, and most of the precipitation they bring falls in the mountains or foothill valleys on the one hand, and on the other side - where the deserts lie - only a small remnant of rain reaches. That water, which manages to reach the soil of the desert, flows down the surface and underground watercourses, gathering in springs and forming oases.
Deserts are characterized by various amazing phenomena that are not found in any other natural area. For example, when there is no wind in the desert, the smallest grains of dust rise into the air, forming the so-called "dry fog". Sandy deserts can "sing": the movement of large layers of sand generates a high and loud slightly metallic sound ("singing sands"). Deserts are also known for their mirages and terrible sandstorms.
Natural areas and types of deserts
Depending on the natural areas and the type of surface, there are such types of deserts:
- Sandy and sandy-gravel. They are distinguished by great diversity: from chains of dunes devoid of any vegetation, to territories covered with shrubs and grass. Moving through the sandy desert is extremely difficult. Sands do not occupy the largest part of the deserts. For example: the sands of the Sahara make up 10% of its territory.
- Stony (hamadas), gypsum, gravel and gravel-pebble. They are combined into one group according to a characteristic feature - a rough, hard surface. This type of desert is most common on the globe (hamads of the Sahara occupy 70% of its territory). Succulents and lichens grow in tropical rocky deserts.
- saline. In them, the concentration of salts prevails over other elements. Salt deserts can be covered with a hard cracked salt crust or salt bog that can "suck in" a completely large animal and even a person.
- clayey. They are covered with a clayey smooth layer stretching for many kilometers. They are characterized by low mobility and low water properties (the surface layers absorb moisture, preventing it from going deep, and dry quickly during the heat).
Desert climate
Deserts occupy the following climatic zones:
- temperate (Northern Hemisphere)
- subtropical (both hemispheres of the Earth);
- tropical (both hemispheres);
- polar (ice deserts).
The deserts are dominated by a continental climate (very hot summers and cold winters). Precipitation is extremely rare: from once a month to once every few years and only in the form of showers, because. small precipitation does not reach the ground, evaporating in the air.
The daily temperature in this climatic zone varies greatly: from +50 ° C during the day to 0 ° C at night (tropics and subtropics) and up to -40 ° C (northern deserts). Desert air is especially dry: from 5 to 20% during the day and from 20 to 60% at night.
The largest deserts in the world
Sahara or Queen of the Desert- the largest desert in the world (among hot deserts), the territory of which occupies over 9,000,000 km 2. Located in North Africa, it is famous for its mirages, which happen here on average 150,000 a year.
Arabian desert(2,330,000 km 2). It is located on the territory of the Arabian Peninsula, also capturing part of the land of Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Jordan. One of the most capricious deserts in the world, famous especially sharp fluctuations daily temperature, strong winds and dust storms. From Botswana and Namibia to South Africa extends over 600,000 km2 Kalahari, constantly increasing its territory due to alluvium.
Gobi(more than 1,200,000 km2). It is located in the territories of Mongolia and China and is the largest desert in Asia. Almost the entire territory of the desert is occupied by clay and stony soils. On South Central Asia lie Karakum("Black Sands"), occupying an area of 350,000 km 2.
Desert Victoria- occupies almost half of the territory of the Australian continent (over 640,000 km 2). It is famous for its red sand dunes, as well as a combination of sandy and rocky areas. Also located in Australia Great Sandy Desert(400,000 km 2).
Two South American deserts are very notable: Atacama(140,000 km 2), which is considered the driest place on the planet, and Salar de Uyuni(more than 10,000 km 2) - the largest salt desert in the world, the salt reserves of which are more than 10 billion tons.
Finally, the absolute champion in terms of occupied territory among all world deserts is ice desert Antarctica(about 14,000,000 km 2).
