The document describes an edible school project to model plant cell organelles using various snacks. Students used foods like Cool Whip, graham crackers, Twizzlers, marshmallows, cookies, and various candies to represent structures like the cytoplasm, cell wall, plasma membrane, vacuole, nucleus, nucleolus, cytoskeleton, Golgi apparatus, ER, ribosomes, mitochondria, and chloroplast. The project aimed to creatively depict the form and function of plant cell organelles through food.

1. Plant Cells, Edible Plant Cells!
Julia Voris, Meredith Gallina, Laurel Szymanski,
Alexandra Long

2. Cytoplasm
Function: Jelly- like substance
has all the organelles
suspended in it.
We used Cool Whip for the
cytoplasm because it reminded
us of how cytoplasm would
look in a cell.
Made By: Julia

3. Cell Walls
Function: To keep it protected
from injury and to help keep
the shape of the cell.
We used gram crackers to
model the cell wall because
the crackers keep the shape on
the inside from spilling.
Made By: Alexandra

4. Plasma
Membrane
Function: Controls what
molecules pass through and
enter the cell.
We used green Twizzlers
because they are thinner than
the gram crackers and the
plasma membrane is thinner
than the cell wall.
Made By: Meredith

5. Vacuole
Function: Stores water and
nutrients the cell needs to
survive.
We chose a marsh mellow
covered in chocolate to
represent the vacuole of a cell
because a marsh mellow is
spongy like a vacuole would
be.
Made By: Laurel

6. Nucleus
Function: Directs most of the
activity in the cell.
We used a cookie covered in
chocolate because we describe
people as being “smart
cookies” and a nucleus has to
know what it’s doing like
someone smart does.
Made By: Julia

7. Nucleolus
Function: It constructs the
ribosomes the cell needs.
We used a Hershey’s Drop to
represent the nucleolus
because the drop is smaller
than the nucleus and it’s
chocolate just like the
represented nucleus is. They
are both made of the same
substance.
Made By: Laurel

8. Cytoskeleton
Function: It is fibers that hold
the cell together.
We used pretzels to represent
the cytoskeleton because they
look a little like a skeleton and
they are thin just like we
imagine a cytoskeleton would
look.
Made By: Meredith

9. Golgi Apparatus
Function: Groups and packages
lipids and proteins in vesicles.
We chose to use peach rings as
the golgi apparatus because
they look layered and packed
together.
Made By: Alexandra

10. Rough ER
Function: It combines proteins
and also is a membrane
factory.
We used sugar-coated gummy
worm to represent the ER
because they are rough like
the rough ER would most
likely be.
Made By: Julia

11. Smooth ER
Function: This organelle
combines liquids for the cell
when it needs it.
We used gummy worms
because they are smooth like
the smooth ER. They aren’t as
rigid as the rough ER.
Made By: Laurel

12. Ribosomes
Function: Follows directions
from the nucleus and creates
proteins that the cell needs.
We chose to use Nerds as the
ribosomes because they are
small in size.
Made By: Julia

13. Mitochondria
Function: Produces cellular
energy the cell needs.
We used jelly beans to
represent the mitochondria
because grouped together
they are the shape that a
mitochondria would look like.
Made By: Meredith

14. Chloroplast
Function: Using
photosynthesis it produces
energy the cell needs.
We used a gumball to
represent the chloroplast
because they are thought to
be green and round.
Made By: Alexandra

15. Completed Cell
We had a lot of fun doing this
project in class. Not to brag
but it was very yummy.