Students--and just about everyone else--tend to have a wide range of misconceptions about microbes. This article is aimed at changing how students view microbes by engaging them in two hands-on activities that are fun and creative and align with both the National Science Education Standards (NRC 1996) and the Essential Principles of Ocean Literacy (NGS and NOAA 2006). By taking a microbe personality quiz and designing their own microbe models, students uncover the critical roles that microbes play in our environment. (Contains 4 figures.)