Once upon a time, in a person far, far away...

There lived a young but growing blood cell named Millie. 

Millie's mom knew that Millie was about to undertake a beautiful process: Mitosis! Millie's mom decided the best way to teach Millie about this process was through an amusement park ride. 

What are we doing today, Mom? 

We are going to a special amusement park today called CDAME (Cell Division and Mitosis Extravaganza)

Millie was excited to go since all of her cell friends have already gone through Mitosis

Millie and Mom get to the amusement park! Mom leads Millie to the famous Mitosis-themed ride. A cell introduces himself as the conductor since he will lead them through this ride. Millie and Mom are so excited and anxiously wait for the ride to start! 

Hop on!!

"To begin, we will start in the G1 phase! In G1, the nucleus, which gives instructions, is making more organelles and proteins for the cell," screamed the conductor as the ride zoomed off. 

That makes sense as to why I'm the tallest cell in my class! 

"We are now approaching the S phase! On your left you can see the nucleus where all the DNA is stored, and to your right you are able to see the DNA copying!" exclaimed the conductor. "Wow, DNA is so fascinating!" Millie said in excitement!

"Now we are entering the G2 phase, it is smooth sailing from here until we enter Mitosis. That will be the most exciting part of our ride!" the conductor said. "What happens in this phase conductor?" Millie asks. "Right now the cell is making sure it has everything it needs to move into Mitosis, that is why it is so calm here!"

WOW I cannot wait for Mitosis!!

The ride sped through a tunnel as the conductor yelled, "Welcome to Prophase, the first phase of Mitosis!" The conductor quickly explained that in prophase, the DNA condenses into chromosomes, the nucleus dissolves, and because of the replicated DNA from the S phase, each chromosome has two sister chromatids. 

Wow! DNA doesn't look like spaghetti anymore. This ride is so much fun!

The chromosomes are also diploid, meaning they come in complete pairs. Haploid is a single set. 

The train dashed out of the tunnel as the conductor explained the next part of the ride: "Metaphase is where the chromosomes line up in the middle of the cell. Like fishing lines, spindle fibers grab on the chromosomes in preparation for our next part of the ride, Anaphase."  

Hold on, every cell!