How would you explain evolution to children?

We came from monkeys.

 

I guess I'd start by explaining how kids are always a little different from their parents, and just say that over years and years, those changes make them more and more different. I wouldn't get into things like natural selection or mutations (depending on the age group, anyway).

 

I'm not having any kids, so I don't need to worry about it.

 

In a way, Pokemon can help with explaining, because the evolution of the Pokemon allows you to use that as a way to make sure the child understands.

I would suck at explaining the concept though because I would make it too complex for the child. But my previous statement that Pokemon would help to make it easier stands. As you can say, You know the Pokemon show you watch, well over thousands of years in the real world, animals evolve to adapt to new climates and to survive. Most evolutions make the animal have a higher chance of survival in the climate it lives in.

 

Technically not true. We and primates share a common ancestor.

 

This might be a long shot but:
Animals come in all different shapes and sizes and have all different things. Some have wings or tallons or fur or scales. Some breathe water and some breathe air.
The reason animals have all these different things is so that they can survive in their habitats. Bees have wings so they can go around and pollinate flowers. Giraffes have long necks so they can reach the leaves to eat in the tall trees.
But a long, long time ago the animals that were around didn't have these things, or most didn't. But sometimes one animal would be born with one of these things, kind of like people are born with different eye colors. When an animal has one of these traits, it can survive for longer and have kids of its own and it passes those things on to their kids. This happens to all different animals and animals can be born with all different traits and body parts, so that's why we have so many different animals that can do so many different things today.
The end.

 

Of course it's technically not true. But if you're gonna explain it to kids, that's the easiest way I can think of it.

 

I told my little brother that initially, there was water on Earth formed by chemical fusion, a process which we can't produce. That water gave way to bacteria growing, and slowly multiplying, and spreading across the Earth's vast oceans, and developing natural skills in order to survive in their environments. Eventually some of those bacteria were able to survive on land, and form trees, then the water bacteria formed fish, which turned into lizards, which, trough a process that took millions of years, eventually came into us, through an innumerable amount of other species. I even told him that to this day, we as a species are still evolving, and so is our environment, due to global warming. Sadly, we're changing the Earth too fast, and we're killing all the animals that can't evolve fast enough to adapt to our industrialized lifestyles.

I told him all of that, but in terms an 8 year old can understand.

(And yes, I understand that's not exactly how it happened, but it's how an 8 year old can get it.)

 

We explaindd it as is. First started with we came from monkeys (very easy answer for a toddler) older they got the more complex the answer.

Thnakfully we live in an age that we have information at pur finger tips so a quick google search my kid got to see the common ancestor we share with the modern day primates. Read articles about the early humans and had them answer questions to help identify differences.

Age appropriate answers make complex conversations easier, evolving conversarions

---------- Post added 26th Oct 2015 at 09:01 PM ----------

Ood explanation veey similar to oue conversations with our kiddos that age. It soesnt have to be on point accurate, they'll learn moreasthey get older and understand further.

 

*Points to a book*

Back in my day, we used these!

*Shakes cane!*

 

I don't think I'd do a good job explaining evolution to kids. If I must I think I'll use something that they are familiar with like the concept of growing up.

I'd probably go:

"Well evolution is like growing! When you grow up, you're supposed to become better at doing things. Right now you're just a wee laddie but one day you're going to grow up and become big and strong just like your dad. You can do grown up stuff like drive and shave and since you're tall enough, you can reach the cookie jar all by yourself without having to ask someone for help. Evolution is just like that! You get better. But unlike growing up, it takes a very very long time.

A long time ago, we humans looked very different. We looked like pink gorillas and I tell you lad, if daddy were alive back then, you'd be scared of me. But other than looking scary we were very special because we knew how to make things easy. We knew how to make tools from rocks and we used them to catch our food. That makes us very different from the other animals who used their paws and razor sharp teeth.

Because we looked like gorillas, we had bigger bones back then. It was hard to move and run around. Sometimes our legs wouldn't cooperate and we fall down. It was hard! So slowly for millions of years, we learnt how to walk and we learnt other things like talking and building houses. We evolved or "grew up" to the humans that we are now. Daddy doesn't look like a pink gorilla now and you won't look like one too. Your bones are not too big so you can run, play, and jump around."

pretty lengthy. but i think that's how I'm going to explain that.

*this scenario is only applicable if i end up with a kid of my own*

 

Thumbs up to you man.... well written and well described....

 

I found this pamphlet from AntiquatedFuture.
Children aren't much different than cats right?
Might help...nyuk nyuk nyuk.

 

Pokemon. I would say, " You are evolution. If you work really hard to take care of this Mankey, it'll eventually turn into a Primeape. This is how evolution done, except it normally takes thousands of years."

 

Hmm, macro-evolution, I'm not sold on~

Micro-evolution~ I would tell them about the peppered moth~ It started out as white with little black spots, but because of all the pollution in the skies, the ones with more spots were less visible and were able to hide from birds more easily~ these ones met and had babies who had even more black spots, and on and on until they became completely black. (Interestingly, they have now gone back to being white because London has been tackling it's pollution problem ^.^)

 

Why aren't you convinced about macroevolution? Organisms really do differ in their genetic pools thus we have organisms of different species. Microevolution might precede macroevolution in certain species of organisms but it does not hold true for some- for example plants.

 

I believe in Intelligent Design, haha~ macroevolution to the point where my ancestors were a bunch of one-celled organisms, is just too much of a stretch in my opinion~~ I studied the theory along with Intelligent Design, and theistic evolution, but I think Intelligent Design just makes more sense~

 

Okay, I understand. I was just wondering because I found it rather uncanny that you would consider microevolution but not macroevolution when I think in neo-darwinian synthesis, it clearly suggests changes in the micro scale could eventually prompt speciation which is a form of macroevo.

 

I had no problem understanding evolution as a child, in fact I always felt like the "god did it" answer never actually explained anything.
Don't underestimate children, they can be smarter than alot of people give them credit for. I don't think much of speaking to children in a way that dumbs things down for them. I treat children and explain things to them in the same way that I would anyone else and I connect with them easier and more naturally than anyone else in my family because of it.