Introduction: How to Make an Animal Cell

My name is Julia Kirton. This is my instructable on Animal Cell, and how to make one!

I chose to do the animal cell because I have done a plant cell, so I wanted to try something new. Animal cells are found in, all mammals, and other animals. Plants, like grass, and trees. The goal of this project is to understand, how an animal cell works and looks.

Step 1: Get All the Materials

So what I have used for this Animal cell is

  • A foam ball and it should be a medium, that larger it is the better. Can find at Walmart, Target, A.C. Moore.
    • For different parts of the cell, use:
    • A battery for the mitochondria, because it is the powerhouse of the cell.
    • Some kind of pasta, shells or spaghetti, for the cytoskeleton
    • You can use slime, or another sticky substance, for the cytoplasm
    • Clay can also be used for the nucleus and other numerous parts of the cell, found at A.C. Moore, Target, Walmart, etc.
    • Staples can also be used, for other parts of the cell.
    • Fabric(regular)
    • Glittered fabric
    • chalk

Other materials needed, to put all this together:

  • Gue
  • Scissors
  • Tape
  • knife(only if needed)

Step 2: Cut the Foam Ball

Now to make your cell you will have to see the inside of it! So you will have to cut the foam ball, this will take:

  • A foam ball (dah)
  • Scissors
  • Knife(if needed)

So to be able to make this right, you should cut 1/4 of the ball, if it is not that big, but cut 2/3 of the ball if it is larger. Try to cut this on a nice hard surface, but it could get messy, so try to be as clean as possible

Step 3: Making the Cytoplasm​

So now that you have the cells inside, so now you take the cell, and it is time to make the cytoplasm. So take your slime(or other sticky substance), and spread it as much as you can over the inside the cell. That will also help with gluing all the parts to the cell. This just makes it easier.

Step 4: Now for the Nucleus

So the Nucleus is like the parent of the cell. This controls the whole cell. This is why we will be using clay. The picture is of the clay that I bought, but you can also use other kinds can work. So as you can see in the picture, the clay can need colors. I just poked holes in the clay with a different colored marker. Around the nucleus is the nucleolus. make a bigger sphere, then cut it in half. Then cut a hole in the sphere, and make sure the nucleus fits inside of it.

Step 5: Mitochondria, the Power House

Mitochondria, it starts with just quickly putting the battery on the slime. Just quickly place it on, you should put it very close to the nucleus. Just like it is seen in the picture. The smaller the battery the better.

Step 6: The Cytoskeleton, and the Rough ER

Next, I put in the cytoskeleton. Now as I said use the pasta, whatever you have, for the cytoskeleton. The pasta is there because it is very hard to break before it is cooked. That is why I used them. So the cell will start to get a lot heavier, so maybe put a heavy material thing, behind it. Now the Rough ER, it is fabric with glitter on it. The glitter is the ribosomes. Put the Rough ER right next to the nucleus. That makes it accurate.

Step 7: ​Lysosomes

Lysosomes, if you have chalk then cut it up with scissors. Try to make it small, the smaller it is the better. I chose to have chalk because it has a little dot in it and is a sphere. That is what lysosomes look like. Just a tip, it is a little messy so try to be over another surface.

Step 8: The Smooth ER, and the Golgi Apparatus ​

The Smooth ER is fabric, just like the Rough ER. The only thing that is different is that this fabric should not have any glitter. It can be a different color like I did, but try to stay the same. Also put this close to the nucleus. Now just so you know you can put different things on the 3 parts of the inside of the cell. The Golgi is a little bit harder. So if you have a string of staples. Brake the staples into 3 different sizes. Try to glue the staple sizes from greatest size to the smallest size. Then put the Golgi more on the edge of the cell.

Step 9: The Vacuole

The vacuole is a little bubble in the cell. As I was creating this I was thinking of bubble gum. So what I did was I bought gum. So what I did was I rolled gum into a ball(but do not put it in your mouth). that is really all you have to do.

Step 10: Let It Dry, Then the Last Step!

This is the hardest part. You wait. You should wait till everything drys, the slime might not dry, but use your time wisely and wait.

The last part is to make the outside of the cell. that means you should paint it. You can do any color, but just be careful of all the cell parts. Now you can have more parts, but this is the regular cell.

Credits:

https://biology.tutorvista.com/animal-and-plant-ce...

https://sciencetrends.com/the-parts-of-an-animal-cell/