What are tectonic plates?

Tectonic plates are the name given to the different sections of the Earth’s crust. You can think of the earth like an egg, and the earth’s crust like the egg shell - a thin, rigid outer layer. The crust is made of hard rock, however the layer underneath (the mantle) is made of melted, or molten rock. This molten rock under the earth’s crust is constantly moving due to a process called convection currents, and this movement drags the crust above it. As the thin, hard rock of the crust is pulled around by the moving, molten mantle, it breaks apart, and crashes together. These broken sections of crust are your tectonic plates.

The crust and the mantle of the earth are made up of rocks called tectonic plates. They usually fit together like a jigsaw. They are always moving a little which over a long period of time makes continents shift. This is called continental drift. Things like earthquakes happen when plate tectonics shake due to build up of pressure in the earth's crust. Hope that helps.