Cell Model Activity

Prepare the following ingredients for your next science class

Activity (1) Fruit tarts as Cells

How We Matched the Fruit to Organelles

 Membrane – sugar cookie crust/ tart biscuit base

 Cytoplasm – cream cheese frosting/ pudding/ custard
 Vacuole – watermelon
 Nucleus – half an apricot/ peach/ avocado
 Ribosomes – halved grapes/ chia seeds
 Mitochondrion – orange slices/ pineapples
 Kiwi – chloroplasts
 Lysosomes – banana slices
 Smooth endoplasmic reticulum – mangoes
 Rough endoplasmic reticulum- mangoes+ chia seeds
Simple Cytoplasm Recipe (Cream Cheese Frosting)
Use a mixer to blend 1 package (8 ounces) of cream cheese with 1/2 cup sugar and 1
tsp of vanilla extract. If it will be a while before you can use it, be sure to refrigerate.
Easy peasy!

Variations on the Edible Cell Model

This is definitely more of a dessert. There are a few ways you can change it up to suit
your preferences. One idea is making it a regular pizza instead of fruit pizza, using
different toppings to represent cell parts. If you go with the fruit pizza, you could
make it healthier by using the sliced round of a watermelon, rind and all, for the cell
and use toothpicks to secure fruit to represent the organelles.

Activity (2) Cakes as Cells

SUGGESTED CANDY FOR AN EDIBLE CELL MODEL:

 Licorice with edible glitter = mitochondria

 Sour gummy worms= smooth endoplasmic reticulum
 Sugar coated gummy worms= rough endoplasmic reticulum
 Marshmallows= vacuoles
 M&Ms/ skittles= lysosomes
 Banana gummies= Golgi apparatus
 Candy disc sprinkles/ jelly beans= ribosomes
 Cupcake/peanut butter cups = nucleus
 Jelly can be used as a base instead of cake

1) Bake the cake!!!

We use round cake pans since we were doing an animal cell model. We also
used a little of the batter to make one cupcake to represent the nucleus. Allow
the cakes to cool completely, then, assemble as normal with some of the
icing between the two layers.

2) Color it!!!
Use food coloring to tint the icing so that you have one color to represent the
cytoplasm, a second to represent the cell membrane, and a third to represent the
nucleus.
Pro Tip: Start with white frosting and use colors that mix easily to form new
colors. That way, you don’t have to divide icing and guesstimate how much you’ll
need for each cell part.

3) Add a few drops of food coloring to the vanilla frosting and mix well to create the
cytoplasm. Frost only the top of the cake.

Next, add a few drops of food coloring (using a different color) to tint the icing a
different shade (green pictured). Frost only the sides of the cake with the second
color. This color represents the cell membrane.

Finally, add a few more drops of food coloring to the remaining icing to create a
third color to represent the nucleus. We chose to add red, which created a rather
unappetizing color. Just something to think about.

Cut the top off the cupcake. Place it on the top of the cake to represent the
nucleus and frost it.

4) FOLLOW
YOUR TEACHER’S INSTRUCTIONS FOR NEXT STEPS