M's science project

M has a science project due by Friday, a model of an animal cell. We discussed various different types of materials and he eventually decided on jello.

Then of course, we had to figure out what to use to denote the various parts of the cell. We had some interesting moments with this. We put in jawbreakers for the vacuoles, but they sank into the jello. Oops, guess we didn't let the jello set up enough. We now have 2 vacuoles on the bottom (but they left a film of yellow on the surface) and one on the surface. We tried to draw the chromosomes with cake decorating gel, but it didn't show up, so we pulled out the box o' decorations and found chocolate sprinkles to be a good substitute. The raisins are the mitochrondria and the nucleus is canteloupe (much to M's chagrin - he doesn't like it).

It all looks good for now - let's just hope it looks as good in the morning. I promised M I would take it to school for him, as I'm sure it would be in worse shape if he tried to take it on the bus. His teacher said she would keep it in the fridge til M and cohorts get back from Challenge in the afternoon. They can have it as an afternoon snack.