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preschool evolution science question


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My preschooler asked, "Who was the first person?" a couple of times until I thought of an answer, "Do you want to hear what I think is the answer, or do you want to hear what I think the other kids think?" (both) " Some people think that Adam and Eve were the first people, that's what all your friends probably think. I think nobody knows because nobody was there." I showed him the human evoloution pages in the World History book. I said, "I think that at one time there were a lot less people, but I don't think there ever was just one person or two people. I think there were a hundred people, at least."

Now he asked, "How did the first person get here?" Leonard on the Big Bang Theory showing Penny a hologram of the Earth and the Universe Explaining that there's a theory that the universe is a hologram of data stored somewhere at the rim. That's when my kid asked, "How did the first person get here?"

 

Could someone tell me what's the story there? I kinda got the gist of the spiel, we're made of stardust. Natural selection and adaptation led to a bottleneck in evolution where there were probably a few hundred "first" people, the kind we'd call people, evolved up from the Sasquatch. My kids probably going to ask this question a couple of times in the next couple of months, so anything you guys could share... I could use the answers in a couple of conversations with gradually more details.

 

Also, please don't limit your answer to what I need to say to a preschooler. I try to find middle school answers to questions because I know they'll come up again over the years and I want to stay one step ahead of my kid.

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There is a beautiful set of picture books called Born With A Bang, From Lava To Life, and Mammals Who Morph. The text is too long for a preschooler (quite nice for a middle schooler's intro to the topic, though), but the full-book paintings tell the story quite well if you paraphrase.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited to correct titles, because even though they're sitting on the bookshelf right next to me I apparently couldn't read. :D

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Also, please don't limit your answer to what I need to say to a preschooler. I try to find middle school answers to questions because I know they'll come up again over the years and I want to stay one step ahead of my kid.

 

You might find Richard Dawkin's latest book, The Magic of Reality, helpful. It's written with upper elementary, middle school children in mind. You can also get it on ipad.

 

In answer to your kids' question, there was no "first people." Each generation is the direct offspring of their parents, but over millions of years, the tiny changes are so great that we consider them to be different species. If you have photographs of your grandparents or great grandparents, that should help. You might see some resemblances between them and your parent, fewer between you and them, even fewer between your kids and them. Each generation was a direct link, but when you compare the differences between five generations, it's easier to see the differences. Now imagine a million generation!

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There is a beautiful set of picture books called Born With A Bang, From Lava To Life, and Mammals Who Morph. The text is too long for a preschooler (quite nice for a middle schooler's intro to the topic, though), but the full-book paintings tell the story quite well if you paraphrase.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited to correct titles, because even though they're sitting on the bookshelf right next to me I apparently couldn't read. :D

 

DS, 5 years old, loved these books. We just read through them one at a time from the library over the past month.

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If you have photographs of your grandparents or great grandparents, that should help. You might see some resemblances between them and your parent, fewer between you and them, even fewer between your kids and them. Each generation was a direct link, but when you compare the differences between five generations, it's easier to see the differences. Now imagine a million generation!

 

 

Except I have a picture of my mom's great-great grandmother. She looks like my mother's twin. It's eerie. Same thing with a cousin of mine and our great-grandfather.

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  • 2 weeks later...

You might find Richard Dawkin's latest book, The Magic of Reality, helpful. It's written with upper elementary, middle school children in mind. You can also get it on ipad.

 

In answer to your kids' question, there was no "first people." Each generation is the direct offspring of their parents, but over millions of years, the tiny changes are so great that we consider them to be different species. If you have photographs of your grandparents or great grandparents, that should help. You might see some resemblances between them and your parent, fewer between you and them, even fewer between your kids and them. Each generation was a direct link, but when you compare the differences between five generations, it's easier to see the differences. Now imagine a million generation!

 

Oh look what I just found... Richard Dawkins explains this:

 

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