Neoproterozoic

Way, way, WAY back in time, even before the dinosaurs, there was a super long period called the Neoproterozoic. It lasted for a HUGE amount of time, from 1 billion years ago all the way to about 538 million years ago. That's so long, it's hard to even imagine! It's like the last chapter of a really, really old book about Earth's beginning.

During this time, something amazing and a little scary happened. It's called 'Snowball Earth'! The whole planet might have been covered in ice, from the tippy-top North Pole all the way to the sunny equator. Imagine playing on a giant snowball that lasted for 100 million years! That's longer than you can count your fingers and toes, even if you counted for a super long time.

Even though it was super cold, life was starting to get interesting. The first tiny, simple animals, like a little sponge called Otavia, appeared. Later on, even stranger and more complex creatures started to show up. These were the very first signs of animals that would eventually lead to all the amazing creatures we see today, like fish, birds, and even us!

The Earth's land was also changing a lot during the Neoproterozoic. Big pieces of land, called continents, were smashing together and breaking apart. This made lots of new rocky land, more than almost any other time in Earth's history! It was like Earth was constantly building and rebuilding its playgrounds.