Cell Organelles Poster

Learn about plant and animal cell organelles with this worksheet!

Use this beautifully illustrated plant and animal cell diagram as a useful visual display for your students during your life science unit. This poster features colorful plant and animal cell diagrams side by side for easy comparison. Each is clearly labeled with the cell organelle names and their descriptions.

As with all our resources, this life science poster has been created by our experienced in-house educators to save you time hunting around for accurate, grade-appropriate, and kid-friendly resources (or having to prep them yourself).

This visual learning aid is perfect for introducing students to the names of the different cell organelles and each of their functions within the cells. It will also enable them to easily compare the similarities and differences between the plant and animal cells in the diagram.

Print out a copy for each of the kids to paste in to their workbooks and refer back to, or keep the poster displayed on the wall to help support their revision of the topic.

You can pair this poster with this cell organelles activity to have your children label the different organelles in a cell, or have them color in this cell structure coloring sheet. You might even want to get creative with our 3D Animal Cell Project!

This resource addresses the following standards: TEKS Science 5.10; NGSS 4-LS1-1

What are the organelles found in plant and animal cells?

Although different, both animal cells (found in all animals and humans) and plant cells are classed as eukaryotic cells. That's because they share a number of the same organelles, as you can see in the plant and animal cell diagram.

The organelles both plant and animal cells have in common are:

• The cell membrane
  This lines the cell and keeps all of the organelles inside. The membrane is also vital in allowing particles to move in and out of the cell to maintain homeostasis (a process of self-regulated biological stability). 

• The cytoplasm
  Produces the protoplasm in which all the organelles inside a cell are suspended. Involved in the protein synthesis and respiration processes. Also moves various materials around the cell.

• Vacuoles
  A part of the cell that does not have cytoplasm. Vacuoles are membranes filled with fluid and act as a storage unit for the cell, storing enzymes, waste products, water, and food material for the cell.

• The Golgi body
  This is involved in manufacturing, storage, as well as transportation of products from the endoplasmic reticulum (see below).

• Ribosomes
  Help to decode DNA by housing and producing RNA and amino acids

• Rough endoplasmic reticulum
  Includes lipids, and is involved in the production of proteins, antibodies, insulin, and transports proteins to the Smooth ER

• Smooth endoplasmic reticulum
  Unlike the Rough ER, the Smooth ER does not contain lipids. It is an interconnected network of flattened cells that works like the cell's highway, distributing molecules throughout the cell. 

• Mitochondria
  Produces ATP, encodes components using DNA. Powers the cell.

• The nucleus
  The nucleus holds the DNA, controls the hereditary traits of an organism, and plays a role in ribosome production.

Unique organelles:

• Lysosomes (only found in animal cells).
  These are essentially sacs of enzymes that can be distributed in and out of the cell. They perform the function of waste disposal, and can digest food particles and foreign bodies within the cell.

• Chloroplasts (only found in plant cells).
  Part of the cell that produces the green-colored chlorophyll used by the plant to perform photosynthesis.

What is the difference between plant and animal cells?

While animal cells are round, plant cells are rectangular.

Plant cells also have a cell wall, which surrounds the cell membrane.

The vacuoles in plant cells are much larger than those in animal cells. They work together with the plant cell wall to help maintain the structure of the plant.

Plant cells also contain chloroplasts, which are what give plants their green color, and help them to photosynthesize energy from the sun.