Gene Facts for Kids

Genes are tiny instructions found inside your body's cells. They are made of something called DNA. Think of DNA as a special instruction book for your body. Each gene is like a single recipe in that book.

These recipes tell your cells how to make proteins. Proteins are super important because they do most of the work in your body. They help build your body parts, make you grow, and keep you healthy. Humans have about 20,000 genes that make proteins. You get half of your genes from your mother and the other half from your father. This mix of genes is what makes you unique!

What Genes Do
- Dominant and Recessive Genes
- How Traits Can Skip Generations
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What Genes Do

Genes are passed down from parents to children. They play a big part in deciding how you look and even some things about how your body works. For example, your genes decide your eye color, hair color, and skin color. They also affect how tall you might be or if you're more likely to have certain traits. When genes cause effects in our bodies, we call them genetic effects.

Dominant and Recessive Genes

Genes can be either dominant or recessive. These words describe how a gene's instruction shows up in a person.

Let's imagine a mother has genes only for brown hair, and a father has genes only for red hair. Their child will get a gene for brown hair from the mother and a gene for red hair from the father. If the brown hair gene is 'dominant', the child will have brown hair. This means only one dominant gene is needed for that trait to show up.

A recessive gene, on the other hand, needs two copies to show its trait. If the child got a red hair gene from both parents, then they would have red hair.

How Traits Can Skip Generations

Sometimes, a recessive trait might not show up for many generations. Let's use the example of the child with brown hair who also carries a hidden red hair gene. Let's call her Mary. Mary has brown hair, but she has genes for both red and brown hair.

Now, let's say Mary grows up and marries Tom. Tom also has brown hair, but like Mary, one of his parents had red hair. This means Tom also carries genes for both red and brown hair.

When Mary and Tom have children, each of them has a chance to pass on either their brown hair gene or their red hair gene. This means their children could have either red or brown hair. This is why you might look different from your parents but look like your grandparents or even great-grandparents!