YOUR NAME: _______________________________
Partner’s name:
 ______________________
Monster’s Name: 
___________________________
Create a Monster
With this activity you are going to use your understanding of dominate and recessive traits to create a monster.
You will work in pairs of two and flip coins in order to determine the genotype of your monster.
From these genotypes you will then draw a picture of your monster (showing his phenotypes)
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Flip a coin in order to determine the allele given by a parent. The parents are both heterozygous.
a. If it lands on heads, the parent gives the dominant allele (capital letter).
b. If it lands on tails, the parent gives recessive allele (lowercase letter)
Since there are two parents, you have to flip once for each parent for each trait. (Two flips per trait.)
2. After you flip your coins, determine which trait will be present on your monster. You can dress your
monster however you want.  *Remember, a parent can only give ONE allele to their child (for
each trait). That means ONE LETTER PER BOX.
Complete the chart below
Trait
Dominant/Recessive
Green Hair (G)
Blue Hair (g)
3 Purple Skin (P)
Orange Skin (p)
5 Three Eyes (E)
Two Eyes (e)
7 Pointed Ears (T)
Round Ears (t)
9 Warts (Y)
No warts (y)
11 Regular Tail (A)
Extra Long Tail (a)
Incomplete Dominance
13 Red Eyes (R)
Yellow Eyes (r)
Orange Eyes (if baby has Rr)
Codominance*
15 Feathers on Tail (NF)
Spikes on Tail (NS)
No spikes, no feathers (n)
*Mom: NF (heads) & n(tails)
*Dad: NS (heads) & n(tails)
Draw & COLOR your monster
Flip 1
Flip 2
from
mom
from
dad
--------
Trait
---------
1
2
4
6
8
10
12
--------
-------14
--------
Answer the QUESTIONS
-------16
Dominant/Recessive
8 Fingers (Q)
3 Fingers (q)
Scales on belly (S)
No Scales on belly (s)
Claws (K)
No claws (k)
Fangs (F)
No Fangs (f)
2 mouths (M)
1 Mouth (m)
1 Tail (L)
2 Tails (l)
Incomplete Dominance
Regular Wings (W)
No Wings (w)
Tiny Wings (if baby has Ww)
Codominance*
Stripes (BST)
Spots (BSP)
No stripes, no spots (b)
*Mom: BST (heads) & b(tails)
*Dad: BSP (heads) & b(tails)
Flip 1
Flip 2
from
mom
from
dad
--------
--------
--------
--------
--------
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QUESTIONS: (answer on SEPARATE PAPER, after you’ve made your monster)
1. (a) What is a genotype?
(b) What is the genotype of your monster for the Hair trait?
2. (a) What is a phenotype?
(b) What is the phenotype of your monster for the Hair trait?
3. (a) What is an allele?
(b) List ALL the alleles for the Fangs trait.
(c) List ALL the alleles for the Wing trait.
(d) List ALL the alleles for the “stuff on tail” trait.
4. Make a Venn Diagram (compare/contrast with circles) for “dominant allele” and “recessive allele.”
5. Compare your monster to others in the class. They all have the same parents! [everyone’s parents were
heterozygous for everything (the coin)] How can the monsters (who are siblings) look so different, even
though they have the same parents? (DON’T say it’s just because people draw differently. Some are purple,
some are orange. Some have claws, some don’t. EXPLAIN why & use COMPLETE SENTENCES.)