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Year 6

Inherited characteristics

I can identify inherited and environmental characteristics of different offspring.

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New
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Year 6

Inherited characteristics

I can identify inherited and environmental characteristics of different offspring.

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Share activities with pupils
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These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. When living things reproduce they pass on characteristics to their offspring. This is known as inheritance.
  2. Inherited characteristics are passed from one generation to another.
  3. Inherited characteristics include eye colour, height, skin colour, hair colour etc.
  4. Environmental characteristics are ones which are not passed down from parent to child.

Keywords

  • Generation - A generation in a family is all of the people born and living around the same time.

  • Characteristic - A characteristic is a feature or property of something that we can use to help identify it.

  • Inheritance - Inheritance is the process of passing on physical features from parent to offspring when they reproduce.

  • Inherited - Something which is inherited has been received from an ancestor.

  • Environmental - An environmental characteristic is one which has been learned or acquired during an organism’s lifetime.

Common misconception

Pupils may think that environmental variation, such as scars, piercings or muscle size and tone, can be passed on to offspring in the same way that inherited characteristics can.

Use the examples in the lesson to make clear the difference between characteristics that we are born with and those that are acquired, and how only those we are born with can be passed on to offspring.


To help you plan your year 6 science lesson on: Inherited characteristics, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Share photos of yourself and other familiar staff alongside their family members and see if pupils can spot which characteristics are inherited and which are environmental. If possible, you could also ask pupils to bring in photographs of their own family members and do the same.
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None required.

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Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
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Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

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Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
The children or young of an organism are called …
adaptations.
generations.
ancestors.
Correct answer: offspring.
Q2.
Starting with the earliest, put these generations of Alex’s family in order.
An image in a quiz
1 - Alex’s grandparents
2 - Alex’s parents
3 - Alex and his sisters
Q3.
An ancestor is …
someone who is your child or offspring.
Correct answer: someone who was born in the past and is directly related to you.
anyone who lived a very long time ago.
anyone who will be alive in the future.
Q4.
What is a generation?
An amount of time.
The total amount of people in a population.
Correct answer: All of the people born and living around the same time.
All of the people born in the past.
Q5.
Which of these statements about offspring is correct?
Correct answer: Offspring usually vary and are not identical to their parents.
Offspring are usually identical to their parents.
Offspring are usually completely different to their parents in every way.
Q6.
These pigs have the same parents and were born at the same time. Why do they look different to each other?
An image in a quiz
Some of them have eaten less than others.
Some of them are unwell.
Correct answer: They each share a different combination of characteristics with their parents.
They have spent different amounts of time in the sunlight.

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
When living things reproduce they pass on to their offspring.
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer: characteristics, features
Q2.
What is inheritance in science?
The money passed on to offspring by their parents.
Correct answer: The inherited characteristics passed on to offspring by their parents.
The environmental characteristics passed on to offspring by their parents.
Q3.
How are inherited characteristics passed on through generations?
Correct answer: Older generations pass on characteristics to younger ones.
Younger generations pass on characteristics to older ones.
People within the same generation pass characteristic between each other.
Q4.
Which of these is not an inherited characteristic?
An image in a quiz
freckles
Correct answer: short hair cut
curly hair
pale skin
eye colour
Q5.
Characteristics that are not passed down from parent to offspring are called characteristics.
Correct Answer: environmental
Q6.
Which of these is not an environmental characteristic?
An image in a quiz
nose piercing
colour of clothing
skill with tools
Correct answer: brown eyes
accent
Q1 nicepix/Shutterstock