Students write down their observations of this new species. The first thing they will notice is the differences in color between the different eggs. I picked blue and green and yellow to show variation in the species (Variation among members in the same species! 3-LS3-1).You can introduce the word “trait” here, if desired. In this activity, students count how many of each color are in the population and they make bar graphs. (Data Collecting and Analysis! 3-LS3-1) You then have the students open up the eggs and show their “seeds” (small blue and yellow pieces of pipe cleaners). You can call them anything that you feel is appropriate for the age of your students and for your curriculum.These could also be called reproductive cells. You collect these “seeds” in a bin. The next morning, the students will be excited to see that generation 2 has grown from them! You can talk about the difference between generations, like grandparents, parents, children, etc. (Life Cycles and Generations! 3-LS1-1)
On Day 2, students graph their generation 2 data and compare to the first day’s data. They should look really similar, because children look a lot like their parents. (Inheritance! 3-LS3-1)
There are also some of these big-eyed cuties thrown in on Day 3 to demonstrate how some traits are influenced by the environment and can be advantageous. (Environment Influences Traits and Some Traits are Advantageous! 3-LS3-2, 3-LS4-2) Generation 3 is raised in the dark and some eggs’ eyes grow bigger! You can ask students to brainstorm why larger eyes would be an advantage. Usage of the word “adapt” would be up to you, depending on their school’s particular curriculum and student readiness. When I did this activity (with math and vocabulary like “Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium”) in high school, a bunch of these big-eyed guys went missing and I was pretty sure they were stolen because they were so darn cute.