For this project we will be making a microbe headband.

Microorganisms or microbes are organisms that can be seen under a microscope and exist as unicellular, multicellular, or cell clusters. Microorganisms can be found all across Earth and are beneficial to life. However, some microbes can cause serious harm. Microbes can be divided into six major types: bacteria, archaea, fungi, protozoa, algae, and viruses.

All life on Earth is thought to have originated from microbes such as single-cell bacteria.

For our Microbe headband we will be making a part of the microbe called the pili or pilus of a microbe.

For instance, many types of bacteria have pili. The pili are small hair like growths coming from the outer cell surface. These growths assist the microbe in attaching to other cells and surfaces, such as the tongue, rocks, and other soft or hard surfaces. Without pili, many disease-causing bacteria and other microbes lose the ability to infect as they are unable to attach to surrounding surfaces.

If the headband were a virus microbe, we would be making the part of the Envelope Protein which is part of the Viral Envelope which is a part of the cell that helps it increase the infectivity of the virus.

Remember the headband we are making is a pretend microbe. Meaning it is not real. So have fun with it! I made my headband a mix of a virus and a bacteria! So, let’s make a microbe headband using the following steps!

Supplies

Glue gun and glue
Old headband
Pom-pom balls
Beads (optional)
Pipe Cleaners
A pencil (optional)

Step 1: Glue

Carefully using your hot glue gun, glue your pom pom balls to your headband base.

Think of the headband as your cell membrane and the pom poms as part of the envelope protein.

Step 2: Bead (optional)

Set your headband aside and take your pipe cleaners and add beads, you can add as many or as little as you want. You are creating your own microbe!

Step 3: Spiral

Using your finger or your pencil (or both), create spirals with your pipe cleaners by wrapping it around loosely or tightly around your pencil or finger. You can decide to make some with the beaded pipe cleaners or without. Do not spiral all of the pipe cleaner so you have some left to wrap around the base of your headband.

Step 4: Wrap

Take your spiraled pipe cleaners and wrap the part left not spiraled onto the base of your headband. These will be our pili of our microbe! Take time to go around the top using your pipe cleaners to make as many pili as you want to be on your microbe.

Step 5: Secure

Take your hot glue gun and secure your pipe cleaner and anything that looks too loose. If you wrapped tight around the headband there should not be much, if any, that needs secured. Let dry and rearrange your pipe cleaners as needed.