Basic research in Drosophila melanogaster has benefited from a plethora of powerful genetics tools. Detailed biochemical analysis, however, has often been difficult due to the lack of in vitro systems that faithfully recapitulate the observations made in vivo. In the field of posttranscriptional regulation, the recent establishment of robust in vitro systems from embryo and ovary material has fueled the mechanistic understanding of a variety of processes. Here we describe protocols to obtain and use extracts from Drosophila embryos that are competent for cytoplasmic polyadenylation and translation of exogenously added transcripts.