Boil 3/4 of the water called for on the gelatin package. Stir in the gelatin and stir until it dissolves. Add the same amount of cold water as hot water. The gelatin represents the cytoplasm of an animal cell.
Place the plastic bag inside a cold pan and spread it open. Pour the liquid gelatin into the bag. Close and seal the bag. Put it in the refrigerator for about an hour, or until it is almost set.
Open the bag, representing the cell membrane, and put the plum approximately in the center (the skin is the nuclear membrane, the flesh is the nucleus and the pit is the nucleolus). Add the evenly distribute the following fruits and candies: 3 smooth gummy worms (smooth endoplasmic reticulum) and 2 sour gummy worms (rough endoplasmic reticulum), 1 gumdrop (centrosome), 3 small shakes of sprinkles in different areas (ribosomes), 4 raisins (mitochondria), 6 M & Ms (lysosomes), 3 jaw breakers (vacuoles) and 1 folded ribbon candy (golgi body).
Close the plastic bag and put it back into the refrigerator. Allow the gelatin to fully set.
Identify the parts of the cell and make a key stating what candy or fruit represents each part. Make sure you know the function of each part of the cell. Your cell is edible.
Paint the inside of the shoebox green to represent the cell wall, and allow it to dry. Paint the outside and allow it to dry.
Roll dark green clay into a long rope to represent the cell wall. Put it around the inside perimeter of the box.
Fill the box with white cotton balls, leaving the clay rope visible. The cotton balls represent the cytoplasm.
Roll tiny balls of yellow and green to clay to represent mitochondria and chloroplast. Arrange these over the cotton balls.
Make a fat roll using several pink cotton balls. Place it at one end of the cell to represent a vacuole. Make a ball using blue cotton balls and put it in the center of the box to represent the cell nucleus.
Add a gumdrop for the centrosome, 5 M & Ms for amyloplasts, 3 shakes of sprinkles in random places for ribosomes, a piece of folded ribbon candy for the golgi body, a cluster of 2 smooth gummy worms and 3 rough gummy worms for the smooth and rough endoplasmic reticulum.