What does a cooking recipe, origami instructions, diagram of a chart stand, and a house plan have in common? They are all instructions on how to make something. Just like these examples, organisms have a recipe too. It’s called DNA. DNA is like a recipe to create an organism. The DNA provides instructions on what color eyes, hair color, hair texture, skin color, nose shape and other features of an organism.
In fifth grade, the students are learning about heredity, or how traits and features are passed from one generation to another. Wonder why you have black hair and your mother has brown hair? Why does your brother have straight hair and your hair is wavy or curly? These are all traits that have been passed down from one generation to another.
In this activity being shown, the students are creating their own “recipe” for a dog. They are rolling to see which type of trait the DNA will have to make in their dog. Traits like fur color and texture, body type, tail type, legs and ear shape.
