A cell is like...

• a computer.
• a restaurant (the waiters are like the endoplasmic reticulum, delivering protein to different parts of the cell).
• a slaughterhouse.
• an NBA basketball team (Karl Malone is like the cell wall, protecting and supporting the cell).
• the Roman Coliseum (lions are like lysosomes, digesting food & waste products)
• the United States (the government is the nucleus, and the people are the cytoplasm).
• a factory.
• the human body (the epidermis is like the cell wall).
• a city.
• a supermarket.

Metaphors contributed by my eighth graders.