travel_exploreDiscovery · Cells and DNA

🧬 Cells and DNA

What are cells? Simple, true cells and dna facts for young children, each with a fun fact, a tiny activity and a question to talk about together.

Tap a question to reveal the answer, share the fun fact, try the tiny activity, then talk about it together.

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What are cells? Revealexpand_more

Your whole body is built from tiny living building blocks called cells, far too small to see without a microscope. You have trillions of them, and different kinds do different jobs: muscle cells pull, blood cells carry oxygen, and brain cells send messages. Together they make all of you.

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Talk about itIf you could be one kind of cell for a day, which job would you want?

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Did you know?You have more cells in your body than there are stars in our galaxy.

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Try itLook at your skin up close. Every bit of it is made of millions of cells too small for your eyes to see.

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🧬🧬What is DNA?🧱How does your body build new parts?🩸What is blood actually made of?

🤖Still curious?How do cells know what job to do?arrow_forward

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What is DNA? Revealexpand_more

Inside almost every cell is a set of instructions called DNA, a bit like a recipe book for building and running your body. It decides things like the colour of your eyes and how tall you might grow. Your DNA is a mix from your parents, which is why you share features with your family.

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Talk about itWhich features do you think you got from which family members?

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Did you know?If you unwound the DNA from a single cell, it would stretch about two metres long.

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Try itThink of a recipe you know by heart. DNA is like billions of tiny recipes packed inside each cell.

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🧬🔬What are cells?👨‍👩‍👧Why do you look like your family?🧱How does your body build new parts?

🤖Still curious?Why is everyone's DNA a little bit different?arrow_forward

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Why do you look like your family? Revealexpand_more

You look like your family because you inherited a mix of their DNA, half from each parent. That mix decides features like your hair, eye colour and the shape of your face. Since the blend is different for everyone, even brothers and sisters do not look exactly alike.

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Talk about itWhat is one feature you are proud to share with someone in your family?

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Did you know?This is why some children have a grandparent's smile or an aunt's curly hair.

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Try itCompare a feature, like eye colour, across your family. Can you spot who you might have inherited it from?

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🧬🧬What is DNA?🔬What are cells?🌱Why do we grow bigger?

🤖Still curious?Why can two children in one family look so different?arrow_forward

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How does your body build new parts? Revealexpand_more

Your body grows and repairs itself because cells can copy themselves. One cell splits neatly into two, each with the same instructions, then those split again. This is how a small scrape heals over and how you grew from a single tiny cell into the whole of you.

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Talk about itYour body quietly repairs itself every day. What is something amazing your body did without you noticing?

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Did you know?You began life as just one cell, smaller than the dot on this letter i.

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Try itFold a piece of paper in half, then half again and again. Watch how quickly one becomes many, a bit like dividing cells.

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🧬🔬What are cells?🧬What is DNA?🩹How does a cut heal itself?

🤖Still curious?How does the body know when to stop making new cells?arrow_forward

🧬 Cells and DNA

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