Know About What Happens In Puberty

You're sitting there now, looking at this activity, and your body's already gone through a lot of change and another load of change is about to come your way!

Of course, everyone starts off as a baby and, after they're born, babies grow and then, at around 12 months, they become toddlers, when they start wobbling on their little legs.

Next, at about 3 years old, toddlers have grown into children. These children continue to change and grow and then, between the ages of 10 to 15 (that's you!), they experience massive changes in their bodies. In addition, fast growth takes place during this period.

This period is called puberty and is generally finished by about the age of 18. In general, girls go into puberty before boys.

Chemicals (called hormones) are released by the body to control these changes. They can cause acne (spots) and emotional changes, too. This includes boys and girls becoming more interested in each other. The period during which all the physical and emotional changes take place is called adolescence.

These are big changes and you will be very aware of them. Remember, this is all about your body developing from you being a child to you being an adult - it's that preparation, and those stages that you go through, that end up with you ... grown up!

Here is a chart that summarises the changes that take place during adolescence in boys and girls:

You can come back to look at this chart again, any time you want, simply by clicking the pink button on the right, while you're doing the activity.

OK, got all that? So, let's have a look at a few questions and see how you get on with all those changes in puberty.