Inherited and Acquired (Environmental) Traits Activities - 3rd or 4th Grade

Explore inherited and acquired (environmental) traits with photographs. Students in third or fourth grade observe four images of plants and animals, collect data, and draw conclusions about inherited traits. Then they establish cause-effect relationships for pairs of images and write paragraphs to explain.

Open the preview to take a closer look at the critical thinking activities.

Inherited Traits

Kids observe a photo of four tomato seedlings.

• They list traits the plants share, as well as variations they observe.
• Then they organize data in two tables: shared traits and varied traits.
• Finally, they determine if tomato plants are more alike or different than one another.

Then they observe a school of eight butterfly fish. Again, they list shared and varied traits. Then they organize the data and draw conclusions.

In two more activities, they observe and collect data on sea turtles and bulldogs.

Finally, students draw conclusions about inherited characteristics. They provide evidence from their observations that “plants and animals have traits inherited from parents and that variation of these traits exists in a group of similar organisms” (NGSS 3-LS3-1).

Acquired Traits

Kids observe four pairs of photos: green and patchy brown grass, healthy and diseased tomato plants, playing and overweight dogs, and snowshoe hares with brown and white fur. They use critical thinking to establish two cause-effect relationships for each photo.

Next, they use the information to explain that traits can be influenced by the environment. Three options are included:

• Explanatory Paragraph – Kids use information from one set of observations to write one paragraph. It includes a claim (topic sentence), an example of an acquired trait, and two cause-effect statements.
• Three-Paragraph Essay – Students use the first page of the multi-paragraph essay organizer to write an introduction and supporting paragraphs explaining two of the examples.
• Six-Paragraph Essay – Kids write an introduction, paragraphs for each of the examples, and a conclusion.

Enjoy teaching!

Brenda Kovich