Parents and offspring
Plants and animals make new living things like themselves. The new ones are called offspring, and the plant or animal that makes them is the parent. A hen’s offspring are chicks, a cat’s offspring are kittens, and a dog’s offspring are puppies. A palm tree’s offspring grow from its seeds. A cat often has several kittens at the same time, and we call them a litter. All the kittens in a litter have the same mother and the same father, so they look like their parents and like each other. But they are not exactly the same. Each kitten gets a different mixture of features from its mother and from its father. A young animal can look different from its parents at first, like a chick, but it grows to look like them.
| Same | Different |
|---|---|
| the mother and father | size |
| they are all cats | markings on the fur |
| four legs, fur, whiskers | fur colour |
Parent cards. Draw or cut out six small cards: three parents (hen, cat, dog) and their three young. Mix them up, then match each parent to its young one. Explain how you knew. Next, with a grown-up’s help, put a bean seed on damp cotton in a clear jar. Draw it every day for seven days and write what changed. The new plant is offspring of the plant that made the seed. Wash your hands afterwards.