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How to Make a Cookie Dough Animal Cell

Making cell models is a staple activity for biology classes. Model cells can be made from a variety of materials. Those made with edible ingredients are often very popular with students, since they can eat their projects when the cell study is done. Your animal cell model should be round and must have the following elements: cell membrane, nucleus, ribosomes, vacuoles, lysosomes, mitochondria and both a rough and a smooth endoplasmic reticulum. A cookie dough base with lots of colorful differently-shaped candy, along with a little colored frosting, can be an excellent way to display the parts of a standard animal cell.

Things You'll Need

  • Baking sheet
  • Aluminum foil
  • Sugar cookie dough
  • Small frosting spreader or spatula
  • Small package red licorice whips
  • One large jawbreaker
  • Two snack-size chocolate bars
  • One teaspoon granulated sugar
  • Four gummy worms
  • One box Mike 'n' Ike candy
  • Small roll Spree or Sweettart candy
  • Ten to 12 Nerds or cinnamon red hot candies
  • Large index card and pen
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Instructions

    • 1

      Cover the baking sheet with the aluminum foil. Use the spatula to spread the cookie dough into a large circle in the center of the covered baking sheet. Press down the cookie dough so it is an even one half inch thick and smooth on top.

    • 2

      Use the licorice whips to make a thin circle all the way around the outer edge of the circle to represent the cell membrane. Break the jawbreaker in half and place one half in the center of the cookie dough cell with the broken side up; press into the dough to represent the nucleus.

    • 3

      Place the two chocolate bars at random locations in the dough base. Sprinkle one with the sugar; press sugar gently into the top of the candy bar. These represent the smooth and the rough (with sugar) endoplasmic reticulum.

    • 4

      Tear the gummy worms in half; place three to four pieces adjacent to each other in arcs at two locations on the cell. These represent the Golgi bodies. Place four to six different colored Mike 'n' Ike candies throughout the cell to symbolize the mitochrondria.

    • 5

      Press three to four different colored Spree into the dough to represent the vacuoles and the lysosomes. Finish the model by placing three clusters of three to four small candies inside the cell; these are the ribosomes.

    • 6

      Make a key to explain your model. On the large card, write each element of the cell and which candy (or frosting) represents it -- jawbreaker = nucleus and sugared candy bar = rough endoplasmic reticulum, for example. Be sure to include your name on the card.

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