Homeschool Science: Stages of Mitosis Cookie Models

Say that you're a high school junior whose mother assigned her a microscope lab to observe, identify, and sketch the stages of mitosis in a root tip. 

Say that you're worried that the stages of mitosis might still be a tad fuzzy in your mind, but you're pretty over all that sit-down-and-study business, because it's been a long week, and also you crave sugar.

You can study the stages of mitosis just as well by making cookies modeling the stages of mitosis!

We did this exact same activity a couple of years ago, during one of our (many) times studying cells, but those cookies were a lot simpler--though still delicious. One of my favorite things about spiraling back around to the same topic, and even to the same activity to study the same topic, is that every time you come back you can add to the kid's base level of knowledge, which then goes up every time you come back. You can contextualize, go into greater depth, perform more sophisticated analysis--all the good stuff! Two years ago, the kids' stages of mitosis cookie models were pretty simple, showing essentially just the cell membrane and the chromosomes. This time, Will also added the major cell organelles, because more candy is always better!

Will used my favorite cut-out sugar cookie recipe, and I made her a nice, big batch of cream cheese frosting to go on top. She carved the cookie shapes that she needed--

--baked them, and then it was time for the fun part!

Did you know that the after-Halloween sales are the best place to buy most of your decorating candy for Christmas cookies? You can divert some of them to stages of mitosis cookies, as well.

Did you know that if you microwave a Starburst for 3-5 seconds you can sculpt with it? It makes a great nucleus!

The food crafting got a little too sticky and chaotic for my tastes VERY quickly, so I don't remember what organelles most of these candy embellishments are supposed to represent, but Will knew what they were at the time, so that works for me. 

Thanks to her slightly unconventional study method, her microscope lab went swimmingly and now takes pride of place in her Biology lab notebook.

And the stages of mitosis were delicious!

P.S. Here's the book that Will's using to add a lab component to her biology study:

P.P.S. Want to see what other messy, chaotic, educational activities we get up to every day? Check out my Craft Knife Facebook page!