Some homes are houses.
Some homes are flats.
Some homes are boats.
We need our homes to be warm when it is cold and cool when it is hot.
Homes look different in different places.
People need shelter.
Where they live is called a home.
©Getty Images
Homes are many different shapes and sizes. Most people live in houses or apartments.
They are made of many different building materials. The most common building materials are wood or brick or concrete.
There are many different styles of house.
A row of old terrace houses joined together ©Getty Images
A modern house ©Getty Images
Some houses stand alone, some are joined to each other.
Some houses are old and some are modern.
Some have big gardens and some have small or even very tiny ones.
Some people live in big buildings that have lots of homes on many layers called storeys.
An apartment block ©Getty Images
Those homes are called flats or apartments.
The buildings are called apartment blocks or high-rise.
Houses can look different in different parts of the country
A house in the hot northern part of Australia ©Getty Images
Houses in hot places
In the hot parts of Australia, houses are made with big windows or verandahs that shade the windows so that air can flow through. Some are raised high so that air can flow under the house and let the higher breezes flow into the house.
Houses in cold places
In cold places, windows are smaller to help keep warmth inside.
Houses in cold places have small windows and steep roofs so the snow slides off. ©Getty
In some places the whole country gets snow in winter, and in some countries there is snow only in some places, sometimes only in the mountains.
The house roofs are steeper to allow the snow to slide off because if it piles up it could crush the roof.
Houses in Australia
In Australia, most people live in towns or cities. Some people live far away from other people and places.
Some towns are out in the country, and people live in the town or in the countryside away from the town.
Some country towns are very small, just a few shops and facilities, and people who live on farms are far away .
Outback house ©Getty Images
In Australia, areas in the middle of the country are called the outback. The weather is very hot and dry in the outback. People live far away from each other.
Farm house ©Getty Images
The older country and outback houses are made of timber or stone found in the area. Some old ones were made of tin. Newer houses in the outback and other remote places can be made of modern materials, with modern insulation and have modern heating and cooling in them.
Some small towns are high in the mountains, where it snows in most winters, and where people go to ski. In a snowy winter there is a larger community, but at other times there are fewer people living there.
A small town in snow country, Australia©Getty Images
In many places there are some people who choose to use old building materials and building methods. Big bricks made of mud and dried in the sun are used to build houses with thick walls that are then covered with liquid mud. This is called mud brick or adobe (say uh-doe-bee), and the thick walls keep the house cool during the hot days and warm in the cold nights.
A modern adobe house©kidcyber
A similar building method is to build walls with bales of hay and then add a thick coating of mud. Hay bale houses are cool in the heat and keep warm in the cold times.
Holiday communities
A holiday campervan ©Getty Images
Some communities are temporary, which means not always there. In Australia there is a long summer, so most holiday communities are together in that season.
Those communities exist only in holiday times when many people live in caravans, campervans and tents in camping grounds and other places. They stay near beaches, lakes, rivers, or in forest areas.
A campsite in the summer holidays©Getty Images
Some lakes and rivers are busy holiday communities with people living on houseboats and boats, as well as those camping in places along the edges.
Those communities join each other in enjoying the water sports, fishing, beach fun and social activities.
They are a community for a few weeks. Many people go to the same place every summer, so the community gets back together again every year.
What is your home like?
What are the houses in your community like?
What are the homes in your holiday community like?
Houseboat on a lake ©Getty Images
It’s a good idea to get information from more than one source!
Read about houses in Australia
https://australian-children.com/houses/
