Download Jell-O Cells

Jell-O Cells
An effective project that offers a hands-on-activity to complete while studying the
basic unit of life.
Curriculum/State Standards
S5L3. Students will diagram and label
parts of various cells (plant, animal,
single-celled, multi-celled).
textbooks. Students will color and label
diagrams of plant and animal cells.
Students will use an on-line computer
game to label the various cell parts.
Overview
Strategies/Activities
After studying the plant and animal cell,
students will make a model of each type
of cell using Jell-O and different kinds of
candy. Students will label the parts of
the cell and describe the function of the
different parts.
Objectives
The student will identify parts of a plant
cell (membrane, wall, cytoplasm, nucleus,
chloroplasts) and of an animal cell
(membrane, cytoplasm, and nucleus) and
determine the function of the parts.
Materials
25 paper plates
25 spoons
25 small tin-foil loaf pans (for plant cell
wall)
25 small round clear plastic containers
(for animal cell membrane)
4 boxes of red Jell-O (animal cytoplasm)
4 boxes of green Jell-O (plant cytoplasm)
50 large gum balls (nucleus)
50 regular gummy worms (smooth
endoplasmic reticulum)
50 sour gummy worms (rough
endoplasmic reticulum)
25 green jelly beans (chloroplasts)
50 purple jelly beans (mitochondria)
50 airheads (golgi apparatus)
25 jawbreakers (vacuole)
Culminating Activity
Students can eat their molds after they
have been checked by the teacher.
Evaluation Method
Teacher Observation
Students will read about the different
parts of a plant and animal cell in their
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GRADE LEVEL
1. Teacher and students will make
the Jell-O according to the package
directions. Pour Jell-O into the individual
containers and discuss how the Jell-O
represents the cytoplasm within the cell.
2. Put the Jell-O in a refrigerator and let
set over night so that it will congeal.
3. Prior to the next class, make a paper
plate for each student containing the
different candy pieces they will need to
create each of their plant and animal
cells.
4. Pass out a candy plate to each
student.
5. Discuss the different candies they
have on their plant and ask students
to label the candies on the plate as to
which part of the cell the candies would
represent.
6. As a class, discuss what
representations the students identified.
7. Have students construct an animal cell
and a plant cell using the Jell-O molds
and the candy pieces.
Readiness Activity
Amy Swing
Mossy Creek Elementary
Cleveland, GA
5
2
DAYS
$100
TOTAL BUDGET