What is a cell?

I've been trying to find some resources that explain the basics of cell biology, including explaining what all those little organelles are. So far most of the sites I've found seem designed for reviewing material that's already been covered. So I'm making a list here of some sites that we can check out. Hopefully some will turn out to be useful. I'll add more as I find them, and list them in the sidebar as well.

Basics of Cell Structure:

Cells from Enchanted Learning. (This is a website aimed at elementary students that I used a lot when my kids were younger. Still good for really basic information on lots of topics.) Includes directions for making a model of a cell from Jello and candies.

Plant cell pitch-penny game: From Ellen McHenry, for elementary-age kids

Cell (biology) from Wikipedia

The Virtual Cell Webpage: There is an "online text" written in simple language for rank beginners, and a 3D animated cell to explore.

Cell Ultrastructure from BiologyMad. Also clearly written. To find it, click on AS Biology, then Microscopy, Cells, Diffusion & Membranes, then scroll down to Cell Ultrastructure.

What is a Cell? from the National Center for Biotechnology Information

Inside the Cell, an interactive online publication from National Institute of General Medical Sciences (also available as PDF)

A Tour of the Cell from the National Science Foundation. The illustrations here are somewhat clearer than some of the others.

More Advanced:

Unseen Life on Earth: We've started watching this online 12-part video series, based on a PBS special

Inside a Cell from the University of Utah

Photos and Videos:

The Biobus is a mobile educational lab in NYC. Their website has videos of crawling goldfish cells. (Maybe we can try that with some of our goldfish!)

Virtual Cell Animation Collection

The Inner Life of a Cell (3D Animation, no narration - look for link in article about how the video was made)

Thanks, Lorna!