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Edible cell model for elementary kids

August 18, 2013 Ticia 18 Comments

 

My kids amuse me at times.  Their grandparents came into town and they were telling the grandparents all about what they’d learned in school.  I eagerly waited for them to tell all about the cell, and how we made an edible cell model.

Is that what they talked about?

No.

Instead they talked about the Egyptians, and how they mummified the dead bodies to prevent decay, and that God taught the Hebrews to wash their hands so they wouldn’t get germs.  They talked all about how the ancient Greeks created theories, but never tested them, so their theories were bad.

So much for my fantastic hands on lesson sticking in their heads.  But, maybe this edible cell model will stick in your kids heads.

create an edible cell sandwich

Supplies for edible cell model:

slice of bread, peanut butter, chocolate chips, almost slivers, M&Ms, butterscotch chips, coconut {Yes, this project is not good for those with peanut allergies, but you can substitute another spread and other items for the allergen causing items, these are just favorites of my kids}

How to make an edible cell model

edible cell model 1

First generously cover your slice of bread with peanut butter, this will be the cytoplasm the organelles float in.

edible cell model 2

Then add some almond slivers for mitochondria.  Maybe take a few extra to eat because you’re hungry.

edible cell 3 and 4

Then add some shaved coconut for golgi bodies, those are like the grocery stores.  Some chocolate chips for lysosomes.  The kids were really looking forward to eating these at this point.

edible cell 5 6 and 7

Then completely forget about taking pictures step by step and get busy adding stuff because you’re hungry.

So add some butterscotch chips as endoplasmic reticulum (ER), the delivery men of the cell.  M&Ms for centrioles, the “mommies” of the cell.  Finally add a Rolo for the nucleus, the government body of the cell.

Of course at the very end you eat your cell, with much hungry ravenous noises.  We opted to do so while watching The Magic School Bus {affiliate link} on Netflix, where I was very disappointed to discover the episode about cells is not on instant cue, and I might have to break down and buy the series.  Instead we watched the episode about somebody being sick (can’t remember the character’s name).

cell diagram

Afterwards we did one last review by drawing a cell diagram.  Which led to the kids fully visualizing the cell descriptions, the boys drawing soldiers for the lysosomes, and delivery trucks for the ER.  It really cracked me up to see them alter on.  When they were describing everything in the cell to Jeff they could tell him the jobs of the different parts, but couldn’t remember the name.  So I see that as a future review opportunity.

Other Edible cell models

Pizza model

Cell cake

Jello cell

Candy cell

Let’s see what others did this week:

Each week I’m spotlighting a few posts that were shared previously.  Many posts get linked up later in the week and they don’t always get as many clicks as they deserve, so I’m trying to spotlight a few every week.

I learned from this post that there is airborne yeast in the air, and you can use it to make a starter for sourdough bread.  Thanks to Angellicscalliwags for sharing it.

 

Highhill Homeschool shared a density of solids experiment that I’m going to use this year when we reach Archimedes.

 

I am in love with this astronomy and space flight activity from All Things Beautiful.

 

Trillium Montessori shared how they organize their thematic supplies and materials.  Since they always share great science ideas I really enjoyed seeing how they organize.

 

Photobucket

<div align="center"><a href="https://ticiamessing.com/category/science-sunday/" title="Science Sunday"><img src="https://i1097.photobucket.com/albums/g344/Ticia1/AiMScienceSundaycopy.jpg" alt="Science Sunday" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Now link up your SCIENCE posts for the week, and then visit some of the other posts linked up and say hi. I’m going to be pinning, commenting, FBing or tweeting all of the posts linked up as the week goes by.  {I got behind commenting last week, between starting school, and cleaning for visiting family, I haven’t promoted your posts yet, that’s on my to do list today.}

science 3rd grade, anatomy

Comments

  1. Natalie says

    August 18, 2013 at 9:34 am

    Wow, the cell model is pretty impressive (and tasty!). I can see though why they are more excited about Egyptians then about cell study – after all, there are so many of those big, hard-to-remember, words in any cell study. This is something that I am putting off until daughter is at all interested in all those details 🙂

    Reply
    • Ticia says

      August 18, 2013 at 3:42 pm

      As I thought about it later, I could see too, but it really cracked me up, they just were not sharing about that cell.

  2. Phyllis at All Things Beautiful says

    August 18, 2013 at 11:06 am

    I love your cell model. It is fantastic.

    Reply
    • Ticia says

      August 18, 2013 at 3:42 pm

      Princess was disappointed at first we did not do your pizza cells.

  3. Lindsay @ BytesofMemory says

    August 18, 2013 at 12:41 pm

    yum and wonderful lesson even if they wanted to tell grandparents about something else. When Sammy’s ask him he says he is learning nothing 😛 Sometimes he will say to read!

    Reply
    • Ticia says

      August 18, 2013 at 3:43 pm

      Thankfully my kids do at least come up with something, but it’s rarely what I expect them to share.

  4. Marci@TheHomeschoolScientist says

    August 18, 2013 at 3:53 pm

    I’ve done lots of edible cell models in my time, but never with peanut butter. Great idea! I might have to add that to my repertoire 🙂

    Reply
    • Ticia says

      August 18, 2013 at 7:02 pm

      It was great, science lesson and lunch all at once. The kids were nuts for it (no pun intended).

      I have seen sooooo many edible cells linked up here, and everyone has their own take on it. It’s really helped me with my planning.

  5. Joyful Learner says

    August 18, 2013 at 6:17 pm

    I love your cell model too! We’ve done one with playdoh but edible ones are so much more fun. We’ll have to do ours with fruit and veggies because we have multiple allergies! Might force me to be more created.

    Reply
    • Ticia says

      August 18, 2013 at 7:03 pm

      Oh fruits and veggies would be a great challenge to do!

  6. maryanne @ mama smiles says

    August 18, 2013 at 7:33 pm

    I really like your cell model! Pinning to do with the kids later 🙂

    Reply
  7. Claire says

    August 19, 2013 at 3:54 am

    Love your cell, especially the rolo in the middle. Yum!!

    Reply
    • Ticia says

      August 19, 2013 at 7:25 am

      May not have been the healthiest lunch……. But it was fun to do.

    • mandy says

      September 25, 2013 at 6:28 pm

      that looks AWESOME!

  8. Rachael says

    August 19, 2013 at 9:21 am

    This fits perfectly within one of my posts in the How Do I Teach… series this week, and I linked to it. Thanks for sharing! 🙂

    Reply
    • Ticia says

      August 19, 2013 at 9:25 am

      Woo hoo!

  9. Julie says

    August 19, 2013 at 9:19 pm

    I love your edible cell model. It’s so simple.

    Reply
  10. Alana huff says

    October 9, 2014 at 7:26 pm

    i love this edible sandwhich

    Reply

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Ticia Adventures in Mommydom Hi, I'm Ticia! This is the adventures of my family in life and learning. Follow along with us as we share our adventures. We're having a lot of fun and learning as we go.

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