Olivia loved building towers. She used all her blocks to make a tower taller than her head.
“Wow, that’s amazing!” said Olivia’s mom. “Everything around us is built like blocks in a tower.”
“Everything?” Olivia wondered. She looked out the window but didn’t see any blocks. She looked at her house and saw bricks but no blocks. She even looked at the playground—still no blocks.
Olivia knew her mom was trying to teach her something important. Her mom was a scientist, and she understood the world in a special way. Maybe if Olivia thought like a scientist, she could understand why her mom said everything is built like blocks in a tower.
Olivia remembered visiting her mom’s laboratory. She loved watching the scientists work. They wore white coats and used cool tools like microscopes, petri dishes, beakers, scales, flasks, and graduated cylinders.
Flasks are glass containers that hold liquids in the lab. Their shape helps keep the liquid from spilling. Scales are used to weigh things. Test tubes are thin glass tubes used to hold small amounts of stuff for experiments. Beakers are glass containers with a lip for pouring. Microscopes help you see tiny things, like cells, up close. Petri dishes are shallow dishes used to grow tiny living things called microorganisms.
Olivia’s mom told her to be careful around the Bunsen burners because they have a hot flame. Olivia thought the science lab was like a magical universe.
The scientists asked questions and used their tools to do experiments. Sometimes the experiments didn’t work as expected, but they learned something new each time. Then they cleaned their tools and tried again.
One day, Olivia’s mom asked her to help with a plant experiment. Olivia’s mom was growing plants and looking at them under the microscope. Olivia loved looking through the microscope; a tiny piece of a plant looked so different up close. She could see the plant’s cells—they looked like blocks!
Olivia’s mom explained that different types of cells make up all plants and animals. Inside each cell, there are parts that have special jobs.
The nucleus is like the brain of the cell. It stores and protects DNA, which is like a plan for the cell. Ribosomes are like construction workers; they build proteins. The Golgi apparatus is like a post office; it packages and sends proteins and other molecules where they need to go. The mitochondria are the powerhouses of the cell, making energy for the cell to use.
Olivia thought it was fun to imagine how a tiny piece of a plant could show her a brain, a post office, construction workers, and powerhouses.
“Wait a minute,” Olivia said. “Everything around us is built like blocks in a tower! The cells are the blocks, and when you put a lot of those cells together, you can build anything—plants, animals, even people.”
Olivia imagined her blocks being like cells. She used them to make a dog, a whale, and a flower.
“Mom,” Olivia said, pointing to her creations, “everything is built like blocks in a tower!”
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Cell Block Building: Gather some building blocks or LEGO pieces. Imagine each block is a cell. Try to build different structures like a house, a tree, or an animal. As you build, think about how each block (cell) is important to the structure. Discuss with a friend or family member how different types of cells might have different jobs, just like different blocks can be used for different parts of your structure.
Microscope Magic: If you have access to a simple magnifying glass or a toy microscope, use it to look at different objects up close, like leaves, fabric, or paper. Talk about how scientists use microscopes to see cells, which are too small to see with just our eyes. Draw what you see and imagine what it might look like if you could see the cells inside.
Cell Role Play: Pretend to be different parts of a cell with your friends or family. One person can be the nucleus, another the mitochondria, and others can be ribosomes or the Golgi apparatus. Act out what each part does, like the nucleus giving instructions or the mitochondria providing energy. This will help you remember the special jobs each cell part has.
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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[Music]
Olivia’s Tower: The Building Power of Cells
Olivia loved building towers. She used every block she had to build a tower taller than her head.
“Impressive,” Olivia’s mom said. “Everything around us is built like blocks in a tower.”
“Everything?” Olivia wondered. She looked out the window. No blocks. She looked at her house; there were bricks but no blocks. She looked at the playground—no blocks.
Olivia knew her mom was trying to teach her something, but what was it? Olivia’s mom is a scientist and she understood the world in a detailed way. Maybe if Olivia thought like a scientist, she would know why her mom said everything is built like blocks in a tower.
Olivia remembered going with her mom to the laboratory. She loved watching the scientists work. They all wore white coats and worked with cool tools like microscopes, petri dishes, beakers, scales, flasks, and graduated cylinders.
Flasks are glass containers that hold laboratory liquids; their shape helps to keep the liquid from spilling. Scales are used for determining the weight or mass of a sample.
Test tubes are thin glass tubes closed at one end, used to hold small amounts of material for laboratory testing or experiments. Beakers are lipped cylindrical glass containers for laboratory use. Microscopes are optical instruments used for viewing very small objects, such as mineral samples or animal and plant cells, typically magnified several hundred times. Petri dishes are shallow circular transparent dishes with a flat lid used for the culture of microorganisms.
Olivia’s mom told her to be very careful around the Bunsen burners because of their hot open flame. Olivia thought the science lab was a magical universe.
The scientists asked questions and used their tools to do experiments, finding answers to their questions. Sometimes the experiments didn’t work as expected, but they still gathered information for their next experiment. Then they started all over again after cleaning all of their tools.
One time, Olivia’s mom asked her to help with an experiment involving plants. Olivia’s mom was growing plants and looking at them under the microscope. Olivia loved to look in the microscope; a small piece of a plant looked completely different under the lens. She could see the individual cells of the plant—they looked like blocks.
Olivia’s mom told her there were different types of cells that make up all plants and animals. Inside each cell, there were individual parts that each had a job.
The nucleus is like the brain of the cell; it stores and protects a special strand of codes called DNA, which gives a plan to the rest of the cell.
Olivia remembered that the ribosomes in a cell were like construction workers because they link amino acids together to make proteins. Another funny name Olivia remembered was the Golgi apparatus; its job is kind of like a post office because it packages and transports proteins and other molecules out of the cell. The Golgi apparatus sends things to the places they need to be.
The energy they need to do this work is made in the mitochondria, which are the powerhouses of the cell.
It was fun for Olivia to think about how a little piece of a plant could show her a brain, a post office, construction workers, and powerhouses.
“Wait a minute,” Olivia said. “Everything around us is built like blocks in a tower! The cells are the blocks, and when you put a lot of those cells together, you can build anything—plants, animals, even people.”
Olivia imagined her blocks being like cells; each one would fit in a certain way until it created exactly what it was meant to be. Instead of building a tower, she used a group of blocks to make a dog. With a big pile of blocks, she made a whale. Then with another group of blocks, she made a flower.
“Mom,” Olivia said, pointing to her creations, “everything is built like blocks in a tower!”
If you don’t have books, what are you waiting for? It’s a kid-safe, ad-free library full of so many storybooks that are brought to life. Ask your grown-up and start exploring more fun stories like these.
Thanks for watching! For more stories, try the Vox app for free today.
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