How to Build 3D Models of Animal and Plant Cells

The idea of microscopic cells is a hard thing to visualize, especially for young children. The use of physical models is a good way to allow such an abstract concept to become more concrete in the students' minds. One fun way to do this is to create gelatin cells to illustrate both animal and plant cells.

Things You'll Need

• Gelatin powder
• Warm water
• Small square plastic sandwich container
• Two plastic sandwich bags
• Various fruits or candies to represent cell parts
• Twist ties

Instructions

1. Place one bag in the sandwich container and the other to the side. The sandwich bags represent the cell membrane. The container represents the additional cell wall in the plant cell.

2. Choose the appropriate representations for each organelle in the cell. Popular options are mandarin oranges for mitochondria and green grapes for chloroplasts.

3. Mix the gelatin powder with the warm water according to the product directions. Pour the gelatin into the bags until almost full.

4. Position the edible organelles in the appropriate areas of the cell.

5. Close the bags with twist ties and refrigerate until firm.

6. Remove from the refrigerator and examine the cells. Look for similarities and differences and think about why these similarities and differences exist.

Tips & Warnings

• To further differentiate the cells, you can use red gelatin for the animal cell and green gelatin for the plant cell. If you do so, make sure the color is light enough to be able to see the organelles placed inside. Also be sure to reinforce to the students (or yourself if you're doing this independently) that the real cells have no color. The organelles give the cell their color.