Yurt facts for kids

A yurt, also known as ger in Mongolian is a portable, round tent. It is covered with skins or felt. A yurt is commonly used as a dwelling by nomads in the grasslands of Central Asia.

Construction

A Mongolian Ger

Traditional yurts consist of an expanding wooden circular frame carrying a felt cover. The felt is made from the wool of sheep. The wood to make the external structure is not to be found on the treeless steppes.

A yurt is designed to be dismantled and the parts carried compactly on camels or yaks to be rebuilt on another site. Complete construction takes around 2 hours.

Mongolian Ger: starting with walls and door
Mongolian Ger: starting to place roof poles
Mongolian Ger: with roof poles in place
Mongolian Ger: placing the thin inner cover on the roof
Mongolian Ger: adding felt cover
Mongolian Ger: adding the outer cover
A ger sits on the Steppes near Mandalgovi

Images for kids

Turkmen woman at the entrance to a yurt in Turkestan; 1913 picture by Prokudin-Gorskii
Yurts in eastern Afghanistan
Ak Öýi (White Building), "The World's Largest Yurt", is located 10 km west of Mary, Turkmenistan, dedicated on 27 November 2015.
An American yurt with a deck. Permanently located in Kelleys Island State Park
A yurt in Shymkent, Kazakhstan, used as a café
Buddhist symbol dharmachakra is represented by the khorlo (Tib: འཀོར་ལོ།) toono. Other Buddhist symbols--khadag (Tib: ཁ་བཏགས་) hangs from the toono and dpaljibeu (Tib: དཔལ་གྱི་བེའུ) is present on the stove
A yurt-derived structure in the Colorado mountains, USA
The wooden yurt under construction in Zakamensky District of Buryatia, Russia
Shangyrak