Why does Mars have a longer year than Earth?

The Earth and Mars are both planets that orbit round our Star, The Sun. This means they travel round the sun in a circle.

A Year is the time a planet takes to go round the Sun ONCE.

The Earth is nearer to the Sun than Mars. So if you imagine the circle that the Earth makes as it travels round the sun, it is smaller than the circle that Mars makes because Mars is further away from the sun.

Imagine you drive round and round the Indianapolis circuit (which is not quite a circle but pretend it is). Now imagine, at the same time, your friend drives round a smaller circle track on the field INSIDE the real Indianapolis track. His lap times will be much quicker than yours because his lap is much shorter.

Same with Mars and Earth. Mars has a much longer lap than Earth's lap. Mars has further to travel on his big circle. So it takes longer to complete. Almost twice as long.

A Martian Year is 1.88 Earth Years.