We began our last meeting of the winter with a vigorous game. Two or three students played the role of transfer RNA molecules, finding and carrying amino acids (the other students ) to form "peptide chains". A discussion of how the structure of the DNA molecule allows it replicate itself, and how it codes for the protein molecules in our bodies followed. Then we extracted DNA from strawberries, an experiment easy to do at home.
We then played three games, including decoding hidden messages by finding the amino acid letter associated with codons...
forming a strand of RNA on a strand of DNA, then figuring out which amino acids were coded for...
and assembled puzzles of the molecular structures of the nucleic acids adenine, cytosine, guanine, thymine, and uracil. We built models of these molecules on Tuesday, but we didn't have enough nitrogen atoms atoms to accommodate Thursday's much larger group.
If you'd like to try extracting DNA at home you'll find many procedures online. This is the one we used, both with saliva, and with mashed strawberry pulp.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/0302/01-kitchendna.html