How to Build a Model of an Animal Cell for a Science Project

Make what you can not see accessible with a model.

Learning about cells can be tricky because you cannot see a cell with the naked eye. Kinesthetic activities like building a model of a cell bring what you can not see into your view. The process may take some time, but if you incorporate educational dialogue with your artistic expression, you'll have all the structures memorized by the end of the project.
Remember form begets function in biology. As you mold the clay, think about the function of each structure. Use different colors for each structure to make them easy to identify.

Things You'll Need

• Glass jar with a lid
• Modeling clay (different colors)
• Yarn (different colors)
• Drinking straws
• Adhesive tape
• Beans or beads (different colors)
• Gelatin mix

Instructions

1. Use the resources below to learn about animal cells and their structures. Print out one of the images to use as a guide.

2. Find a jar with a lid. This will represent the cell itself. The glass walls serve as the cell wall. Although not porous like a real cell wall, the glass will let you see all of the cell's components.

3. Form the Golgi apparatus (macromolecule packaging), mitochondria (energy production), and the rough and smooth endoplasmic reticulum (lipid, hormone, and protein synthesis) out of modeling clay. Roll tiny balls of ribosomes and stick these to the rough reticulum; protein synthesis occurs in these structures.

4. Cut pieces of yarn for the microfilaments and microtubules. Cut several pieces of a drinking straw and tie or tape these together to form the centrosome, the production center for the microtubules and filaments, which contribute to the cytoskeleton of the cell. The centrosome divides to initiate cell division.

5. Use different colored beads or beans to represent the peroxisomes, lysosomes, secretory vesicles, and vacuoles. These structures respectively function to clean the cell, produce enzymes for digestion, package cellular excretions like hormones, and store nutrient and waste products.

6. Make the round nucleus out of modeling clay. DNA, which is stored in the nucleus, contains the instructions for cellular design. Be sure to include a different colored nucleolus; this is where the ribosomes are produced.

7. Prepare the gelatin. Choose one that is light in color. Let the gelatin cool for 10 minutes then pour it into the jar. Drop all of your cellular structures into the jar. Set in the refrigerator until the gelatin is hardened. The gelatin represents the cytosol, the gelatinous liquid interior of all cells.

8. Make a visual key for your cell that indicates the color, name, and function of each structure.

Tips & Warnings

• Depending on the kind of modeling clay used, you may have to bake the clay to harden it.

• Experiment with the timing for depositing your structures into the gelatin. You want the structures to "float" in the gelatin, not sink to the bottom.

References

• Shawnee State University: Discovering the Animal Cell

Resources

• Cells Alive: Discovering the Animal Cell
• Molecular Expressions: Animal Cell Structure
• Biology Online: Biological Cell Introduction