Explain to students the similarities between recipes and genes, which provide instructions for making a protein. Compare chromosomes to chapters in a cookbook, which both have many recipes or genes. Together, the chromosomes are like a cookbook because they have all the different types of recipes, or different types of proteins in our bodies. Instruct students to create a cookbook, with different genes for each recipe and different chromosomes for each chapter.
Instruct students to create chromosomes and use them to draw a person. Use a list of traits such as attached earlobes, dimples, freckles, gender, eye color and hair color. Provide students with the list and have them assign traits to their chromosomes. Ask them to decide which of the traits from the chromosomes will be passed to their person. They will then draw the person based on the traits they choose.
Encourage students to think about how genes affect inherited traits by creating Reebops, as suggested by the Baylor College of Medicine -- imaginary creatures with a unique physical appearance. Provide yarn, paper, white and colored mini marshmallows, toothpicks, thumb tacks and push pins to make Reebop parents. Baby Reebops will be constructed according to their parents' genes, with students choosing which genes will pass from the mother and which from the father. The entire family is then combined so all members can be discussed and compared.
Cut karyotypes ahead of time and as students enter the classroom, hand them each an envelope containing several. Discuss mutations and abnormalities and tell the students they will be working as geneticists looking for abnormalities in the chromosomes of a patient as they construct a karyotype. Students match the chromosomes and look for extra or missing chromosomes. Ask students what the patient's disorder might be and discuss with them the effects of the mutations.