Cells: Building Blocks of LifeGrade 6 Science for Kids

Plant and animal cells, how cells build a body and how water crosses cell membranes.

Cells: Building Blocks of Life helps sixth graders compare plant and animal cell parts, zoom out from a cell to a whole organism and watch gummy bears show how osmosis moves water. The core of middle school life science.

  • Grade 6 · Ages 11–12
  • 3 lessons
  • 3 experiments
  • 12 practice questions
  • About 25 min
Start Learning Free Open the Course
  • Plant and Animal Cells
  • Cell Part Sort
  • From Cell to Body
  • Build an Organism
  • Osmosis
  • Gummy Swell

Science lab course · Grade 6

Cells: Building Blocks of Life · Learning goals

What Your Child Will Learn

Compare plant and animal cell parts, zoom out from a cell to a whole organism, and watch gummy bears show how osmosis moves water.

  • Plant and animal cells share many parts, but only plant cells have a cell wall and chloroplasts.
  • Cells build tissues, tissues build organs, organs build systems, and systems build an organism.
  • In osmosis, water moves through a membrane toward where there is less water.

Why it matters

Why This Matters for Kids

  • All life is made of cells

    Cells are the starting point of biology, health and medicine.

  • Plant vs animal cells

    Comparing cell parts explains why plants can make food and animals can't.

  • Osmosis

    Osmosis explains how water moves in our bodies, in plants and even in pickles.

Inside Cells: Building Blocks of Life

How the Course Works

Each level has a short read-aloud lesson, an interactive experiment and a mini quiz.

  1. Step 1 · Lesson

    Plant and Animal Cells

    Every living thing is made of cells, the smallest units of life.

  2. Step 2 · Experiment

    Cell Part Sort

    Let's look through a microscope at a leaf cell and a cheek cell. Which parts are in both, and which only in plant cells?

  3. Step 3 · Lesson

    From Cell to Body

    Cells of the same kind work together as a tissue, like muscle tissue.

  4. Step 4 · Experiment

    Build an Organism

    Living things are built in levels. Put them in order, from smallest to largest.

  5. Step 5 · Lesson

    Osmosis

    A cell membrane lets water pass through, but blocks many other things.

  6. Step 6 · Experiment

    Gummy Swell

    Let's put gummy bears in plain water, sugar water and salty water. Which one swells up first?

Lesson preview

A Peek Inside the Lesson

This is the real lesson text your child hears, read aloud by a friendly voice.

Plant and Animal Cells

Every living thing is made of cells, the smallest units of life.

Both plant and animal cells have a nucleus (control center), cytoplasm, a membrane and mitochondria (energy makers).

Plant cells also have a stiff cell wall, chloroplasts that make food from light, and a big vacuole for water.

From Cell to Body

Cells of the same kind work together as a tissue, like muscle tissue.

Different tissues make an organ, like the heart.

Organs work together in organ systems, and systems make an organism: you!

Osmosis

A cell membrane lets water pass through, but blocks many other things.

Water moves from where there's more water to where there's less. This is osmosis.

That's why a wilted plant perks up when you water it!

For parents

Try It at Home

Learning sticks best when kids use it in real life. Here are simple ideas from this course.

Parent Tip

Soak one gummy bear in water and one in salt water overnight. Compare their sizes in the morning and talk about osmosis.

Cell Part Sort

  1. Peel the thin skin from inside an onion layer (a grown-up helps).
  2. Look with a magnifying glass or microscope.
  3. Can you see the box-shaped cells?

Plant and animal cells share many parts, but only plant cells have a cell wall and chloroplasts.

Build an Organism

  1. Use Lego to model it: 1 brick = a cell.
  2. Join bricks into a wall (tissue), walls into a room (organ).
  3. Rooms make a house (system), houses a town (organism)!

Cells build tissues, tissues build organs, organs build systems, and systems build an organism.

Gummy Swell

  1. Put one gummy bear in plain water and one in salty water overnight.
  2. Measure them with a ruler in the morning.
  3. Which one grew? Which barely changed?

In osmosis, water moves through a membrane toward where there is less water.

Practice

Grade 6 Science Practice Questions

Real questions from Cells: Building Blocks of Life. Try them with your child, then tap to see the answer.

  1. Question 1

    What is the control center of a cell?

    • A.The nucleus
    • B.The cell wall
    • C.The vacuole
    Show answer

    The nucleus

  2. Question 2

    What is a group of similar cells called?

    • A.An organ
    • B.A tissue
    • C.An organism
    Show answer

    A tissue

  3. Question 3

    What is osmosis?

    • A.Cells splitting
    • B.Light bending
    • C.Water moving through a membrane
    Show answer

    Water moving through a membrane

The full course has 12 questions with instant feedback, stars and rewards. Create a free account to play them all.

Cells: Building Blocks of Life · Questions from parents

Frequently Asked Questions

What age is this course for?

Cells: Building Blocks of Life is a grade 6 science course for kids ages 11–12. That is Year 7 science in the UK and Year 6 in Australia. It also works well for review in the next grade, or as a challenge for a confident younger learner.

What will my child learn?

Compare plant and animal cell parts, zoom out from a cell to a whole organism, and watch gummy bears show how osmosis moves water. Along the way they practice: Plant and animal cells share many parts, but only plant cells have a cell wall and chloroplasts; Cells build tissues, tissues build organs, organs build systems, and systems build an organism; In osmosis, water moves through a membrane toward where there is less water.

How long does the course take?

About 25 minutes in total, split into 3 short levels. Most kids finish it over two or three sessions. Progress is saved, so they can stop any time and pick up where they left off.

Is this course free?

Yes. Cells: Building Blocks of Life is one of the first 2 courses in Grade 6 Science. Create a free parent account and your child can start right away.

Does my child need to read well to use it?

No. Every lesson has a friendly read-aloud voice, questions are read aloud too, and the pictures help kids follow along. Confident readers can turn the voice off.

Can we use it for homeschool?

Yes. SkillBloom is built for homeschooling families. Kids work through lessons, games and quizzes on their own, and the parent dashboard shows what they finished and which skills need more practice. It works on phones, tablets and laptops.

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