Teaching Kids The Difference Between Animal and Plant Cells With an Expansion About the Vacuoles in Plant Cells

Today for school we were working on the difference between animal cells and plant cells.  Of course having just about every science book Usborne has to offer, we had plenty of books to choose from to expand more on this topic.  We chose   What's Biology All About? It has a great figure of the difference of an animal cell and a plant cell.  As you can see there's a HUGE difference.

Animal Cell

Plant Cell

All cells are quite similar, but plant cells have a few extra features to them.  Notice the added features in the photos above, and I will list them below. Definitions of each are listed below that as well.

Animal Cells                          Plant Cells

Nucleus                                 Nucleus           
Cytoplasm                             Cytoplasm
Cell Membrane                     Cell Membrane
Mitochondrion                      Mitochondrion
                                              Chloroplasts
                                              Vacuole

Nucleus - the control center or "brain" of the cell
Cytoplasm - a thick liquid that fills the cell
Cell Membrane - controls what enters and leaves the cell
Mitochondrion - breaks down simple substances to provide energy for the cell
Chloroplasts - makes food by using the green chlorophyll that's inside them
Vacuole - little pockets in the cytoplasm of the cell

Something the kids were interested in was to learn more about what the vacuole of the plant cell is.  So we went on an online hunt and found this fascinating video by J S Mead that shows food vacuole formation and contractile vacuole action.  Watch the full video.  It got more interesting as it went on, and at the end, according to my son..."The cell poops!".

CELL VACUOLE VIDEO

ONION CELL EXPERIMENT

Can you see cells?  YES! You can!

If you have a microscope at home you can look at some onion cells.

Here's how:

1.  Cut an onion in half and in half again. Pull apart the layers and snap one layer in half.

2.  Peel off the thin onion skin.

4.  Put the onion piece on the microscope slide with a little dab of water.

5.  Fasten the slide under the clips.

6.  Turn the knobs on your microscope to lower your lens.  Use your eyepiece to focus and you should see rows of cells.

7.  Find some other items to look for cells under your microscope.  What types of items can you find cells on?  Please post them below. 

Have fun looking!

Kristie



Sew some Fairies on National Thread the Needle Day

Did you know there was a National Thread the Needle Day? Not just sewing day, but actually thread the needle day! We celebrate this day every year on July 25th. Who knew?

I was a pretty lucky kid. My mom was a fantastic seamstress and made a lot of my clothes. They didn't look handmade, they looked like they came from fancy boutiques. So, of course, my mom taught me to sew. I can't quite sew like she did back then, but I can thread a needle! And I can do it fast!

To celebrate the fun task of threading needles I thought I'd share this fun Usborne book of "Fairy Things to Stitch and Sew". If you would like some fun, easy sewing projects to do with your girl, a group of girls, or as a home school project, this book has a bunch for you to do! Each sewing activity comes with simple steps and teaches simple sewing stitches. It's such a perfect book to get your little girl interested in sewing. And what little girl doesn't want to make some fairies?

Recommended for ages 6 and up, and for only $6.99 you can't go wrong! If you need a birthday gift, and some thread, needles, scissors, pinky and purply material, beads and sequins along with Fairy Things to Stitch and Sew and it'll make a wonderful gift!

Purchase Fairy Things to Stitch and Sew

Happy Sewing!

Kristie

Pyramid Excavation Adventure Kit - Usborne Books Teaches Kids About the Giza Pyramids

Now here's a great kit to help you teach your kids about Egypt and the pyramids. Usborne is known for it's wonderful array of history books for kids. They have a whole collection of neat works on Ancient Egypt. This year Usborne came out with the Pyramid Excavation Adventure Kit. Kids love it!

Kids get to be a junior acheologist by excavating the treasures found within the Egyptian pyramids. The kit also includes the book Who Built the Pyramids? which teaches kids all about the Ancient Egyptians and how they built the pyramids.

This is a great kit for any kid interested in egypt, pyramids, and archeology. It's also a great kit to use in your home school curriculum when studying Ancient Egypt.

Other Ancient Egypt books for your kids published by Usborne Books:

Ancient Egypt Jigsaw Book

Egyptians IR

Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt

See Inside Ancient Egypt

Enjoy Your Jouney Through Time!

Art Skills - Usborne Books

Usborne's Art Skills book is a very used book in our home. My 10 year old son picks this book up off the shelf and does projects from it on his own all the time. The above project came from the Giraffe Collage. My son didn't want to do the Giraffe (which is really cute!), but he wanted to make these little birds. They were simple to make by following Usborne's easy instructions that are included in their art and activity books. He even started making other birds from the same concept. The vulture he made was too cool, but doesn't fit in my scanner. The metal fasteners that are used on this project allow for the birds wings to move.

Other projects in Art Skills include Tissue Paper Fruit Rubbings, Techniques for Painting Trees, Skies, and Water, Sponge Printed Animals, Finger Paint Flowers, Textured Houses, and many more projects.

If you have kids who love doing arts projects, this is a great book to have on hand for them. If you home school or want to provide extra art instruction for your children at home, this book will provide that for you.

Make This Egyptian Mummy from Usborne Books

My 10 year old son is fascinated with the Ancient Egyptian Era. Anything he can get his hands on when it comes to this subject he begs for.

I had Make This Egyptian Mummy in my stash of Usborne stuff, and he found it yesturday. He had so much fun with this. "I liked this cause it had a mummy, and I built it in a couple hours!".

I think he was most proud of the fact that he was able to build this so quickly. Many of these heavy stock cut-out models take days if not weeks to build. He built the Mayflower last year (not an Usborne publication), and it took weeks to get that built.

The nice thing with this, the model ends up pretty large. He was so excited that it was so big. He's built many mummy and sarcophaguses from other activity kits, and this one is the biggest. Heck, this boy could open his own museum with all the stuff he's built.

At just 9.95, Make This Egyptian Mummy is a great activity for those kids interested in Ancient Egypt and mummies. This is also a great resource for home schoolers who are studying Ancient Egypt.

By the way, my son started on the Trojan Horse today. He is bound and determined to finish this one in one day as well.