- 1). Break off a large lump of the color of clay you want to represent the cell as a whole. Work it into a shape that is approximately as large as your hand.
- 2). Break off a smaller amount of the clay you want to represent the cell's nucleus. You should work this clay into a circle about three inches across.
- 3). Put your nucleus on top of the clay representing the outer structure of your cell, then gently press it into place.
- 4). Break off some clay that will represent your strands of DNA and roll them into cylinders. Make these cylinders about about as long as your nucleus.
- 5). Lay each of these strands across your cell in a "z" shape, one over the other. When you are done, the two strands should look like a curvy "X." This will give a two-dimensional representation of the three-dimensional double-helix shape of DNA.
- 6). Press these forms gently into the nucleus so the clay will stick together, while keeping the "X" form you created.
- 7). Break off clay from your remaining four colors, and make little cylinders from each of the four colors. These will represent the four nucleotide bases. Place these in a random order so the small nucleotide cylinders connect the two strands of DNA. Shorten your cylinders as necessary, since you will need a different length of cylinder to connect different parts of your DNA strands.
- 8). Press these nucleotide cylinders gently into place.
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