GoalSay that children and young animals inherit some characteristics from their parents.
New words
characteristic · a feature of a living thing, such as hair colour or the shape of the noseinherit · to get a characteristic from your parentsparent · a mother or a father
Explanation
A characteristic is something about how a living thing looks. Hair colour, curly or straight hair, eye colour and the shape of your nose are characteristics. We inherit some of them from our parents. That means we get them from our birth parents, the mother and father we were born to. A child may have curly hair like their mum, or a big smile like their dad. Brothers and sisters can look different from each other. Some children are adopted, and families come in many kinds. Every family is a real family. Animals inherit things too, like a puppy with the same fur colour as its mother.
Worked examples
Nodira has curly black hair, just like her mum. She inherited her curly hair from her mum. She also has her dad’s big brown eyes.
Leo’s brother Daniel has straight hair and Leo has wavy hair. Brothers and sisters can inherit different things from the same parents.
A tiger cub has stripes like its mother. Tigers inherit their stripes.
Class activity
Family features (with an adult): ask a grown-up if you can look at photos of people in your family, or look at your own face in a mirror. Find three characteristics, such as hair, eyes or smile. Which ones match someone in your family? Which ones are different? It is fine if you find only a few. Tell someone what you found out.
Practice
1
A puppy has spotty fur like its mother, and a new red collar. Which one did it inherit?
The spotty fur. The collar was put on by people, so it is not inherited.
2
Name two characteristics that people can inherit.
For example: hair colour, eye colour, curly hair, the shape of the nose, freckles.
3
Aisha’s mum has a gap between her front teeth. Aisha has one too. What word describes how Aisha got it?
Inherited. She inherited it from her mum.
4
Can two brothers look different even though they have the same parents?
Yes. Brothers and sisters inherit different mixes of their parents’ characteristics.
