Cell Suncatcher (Suncatcher)

Adult supervision is required. Pointed objects and choking hazard!

Materials

• Petri Dish
• Clear Glue
• Small Straw Piece
• Pipette
• 4 Vials of Food Coloring
• 6 Flat Marbles
• 6 Tiny Beads
• 10 Pony Beads
• 2 Feathers
• Yarn
• Suction Cup Hook

Procedure

  1. Use the shallow half of the petri dish as the mold for the suncatcher. Place the straw piece upright in the mold, about a centimeter away from the edge. This will be the top of the suncatcher.
  2. Fill the mold about halfway with an even layer of clear glue (do not put glue inside the straw—this is where the suncatcher will hang from).
  3. Decide whether this suncatcher will model a plant cell or an animal cell (see “Science Behind it!” for reference).
  4. Use beads, marbles, feathers, or pipette food coloring to make your cell look like the type of cell you chose! Different pieces and designs can represent organelles and other parts of the cell. Note the differences between the plant cell and the animal cell. If someone looks at your cell, will they be able to identify it?
  5. Fill the remainder of the mold with clear glue. Let dry for 2-4 days.
  6. Peel the cell suncatcher from the mold when it is completely dry (the edges will start to lift from the mold when it is dry). Thread the yarn through the straw, and tie it into a loop. Use the suction cup hook to hang your suncatcher in a window.

Science Behind it!

Cells are amazing living organisms! They are so tiny that you cannot see them with your own eye but they make up every living thing. The cells that make up plants (left) are different from the cells that make up animals (right). Plant cells have a cell wall to protect them and chloroplasts to hold chlorophyll, which gives them their green color. Both cells have a variety of organelles that have different functions, similar to the organs in your body. Each cell has a nucleus – animal cells have one in the center, while plant cells’ are off-center.

And will flake off. These are your skin cells that are dying. Don’t worry, they come back and regenerate constantly!
Cells are living things and need many things to stay alive and thrive in their environment. Both animal and plant cells have a very large thing in common, they both have a nucleus. This is like the brain of the cell, where all of what the cell does and why it does it happens occurs? Both animal and plant cells have a vacuole. This is where all of the food is stored to give the cell nutrients that it needs to thrive. Both cells also have a cell membrane. This is like the security guard of the cell. It lets the good things into the cell and keeps the bad things out. Not all cells are the same though.


There are major differences between an animal and a plant cell. The first being that plant cells have cell walls. When you are eating celery, did you ever notice that it is stiff and not bendy? Or when you look at a flower, the stem is going in a straight direction. That is because the stem is made up of millions of cells that are boxed together forming rows of cells. Each plant cell sits on top of one another, forming a row, kind of like bricks in a house. If our plant cells did not have cell walls around the cells, all of our plants would be big blobs on the ground. Another difference is that plant cells have chloroplasts in them and animal cells do not. Chloroplasts help plants perform photosynthesis. This is how plants make food. They soak up sunlight through the leaves, this makes energy, which feeds the cells. If a plant did not have chloroplasts, how else would they get their food?


Have fun making your very own cells. When your cell is hanging in your window, just think how cool your own body is. All of everything this one cell does is happening billions of times in just your pinky nail or on the tip of a pig nose, depending on which cell you chose! How cool is that?