With school almost out, this is a fun activity to do in the summer. Who doesn’t want to know how to make & eat a how to make a 3D cell model with jello in the summer?
Teaching about cells can be difficult, especially to youngsters who don’t understand concepts they can’t see with their eyes. This activity will “show” your kids the basic parts of a cell, as well as be fun to eat afterwards. Let’s get started with how to make a 3D cell model.
If you are working with younger kids, I recommend teaching 3 parts of the cell: cell membrane, cytoplasm, nucleus.This is included in our Cell Activity Guide. If you have older kids, check out our animal cell pizza model.
Grab it right now by entering your name & email below.
Supplies include grapes, ziploc bags, sharpie & jello. If I did this again, I would use a LIGHT color jello. Since I already had red jello, I’m using that today.
Your ziploc bag (or any type of clear baggie) will be your cell membrane –
thin layer of protein and fat that surrounds the cell.
Jello will represent the cytoplasm – jellylike material outside the cell nucleus in which the organelles are located.
Take your grape and insert it into the jello. The grape represents the nucleus – the “brain” of the cell as it controls many of the functions of the cell and contains DNA.
Seal your ziploc. Squish the jello a bit so the grape is surrounded by the jello, representing the cytoplasm that surrounds the nucleus.
Obviously, this is an extremely simple 3d model of a cell. However, it allows even 5 year olds to gain a simple concept of cells.
If you would like our Cell activity guide & printables, which includes more advanced ideas for your 3D cell model, please enter your first name and primary email below. Activity guide includes other EDIBLE cell models like a cell pizza…FUN! We will email it to you.
Question: What ideas do you have for fun back to school activities? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
11 Comments
Now, that is seriously cool!
Glad you like it. I hope to have my pizza cell activity online shortly. That was our kids’ favorite.
What a wonderful, fun way to teach about cells! Thanks so much for sharing on this week’s Kids Co-Op link up!
You’re so welcome…Glad you like it. After 4th of July, I”ll be sharing another edible cell activity 🙂
Could you please email me your Cell activity guide & printables, which includes more advanced ideas for a 3D cell model, thanks
Lorraine,
You should be able to enter your email in the form above. Our system will automatically email the Cell Activity Guide. If you have problems, let me know.
I’d love your cell activities!
Donna,
You should be able to enter your email in the form above. Our system will automatically email the Cell Activity Guide. If you have problems, let me know.
Very cool activity to build an understanding of cells. Love this!
The link to receive the unit is not working – just says email not a valid address. I tried three different email addresses.
Thanks for letting us know. On some browsers the sign up does not show. We don’t know why. I tried the link on Firefox, Chrome and IE and see it on all three. You might try it on another browser. In the meantime, I’ll have my assistant send the directions.