Printable ScholarPlant Cell Diagram
Free printable plant cell diagram — a labeled plant cell showing the cell wall, chloroplasts, central vacuole, nucleus, mitochondria and more. Download a high-resolution PDF or PNG for Letter paper.
Part of the free Cells teaching pack for grades 5 to 8 (introductory level): 25 lesson slides and 12 printables with answer keys, free by email.
Teaching ideas for Cells
Pick the ideas that suit your class, then follow the plan or use the sheets in any order.
- Look at onion skin. Lay a thin peel of onion skin in a drop of water on a slide. Under the microscope, students look for boxy cells and the cell wall around each one.
- Build a cell model. Students shape the parts of a plant cell or an animal cell from clay or cut paper, set them on a paper plate and label each one.
- Bag in a box. Set a sealed bag of water in a small box. The bag is the cell membrane and the box is the cell wall. Lift the bag out for an animal cell.
- Crisp limp celery. Stand a limp celery stalk in water overnight. It firms up as the large central vacuole in each cell fills with water and presses on the cell wall.
A plan for the week
| Day 1 | Open with one of the ideas above. Teach the lesson with the slides while students fill in the guided notes. Hand out the two labeled diagrams to keep. | Lesson slides (PowerPoint) (in the pack) Cells Guided Notes (in the pack) Plant Cell Diagram Animal Cell Diagram |
| Day 2 | Students label the two blank diagrams. Then they read the plant cell picture on “Read the Plant Cell Diagram” and answer the questions. | Blank Plant Cell Blank Animal Cell Read the Plant Cell Diagram (in the pack) |
| Day 3 | Read the animal cell picture on “Read the Animal Cell Diagram” and answer the questions. Then read “Inside a Cell” and answer the questions. | Read the Animal Cell Diagram (in the pack) Inside a Cell (in the pack) |
| Day 4 | Sort parts and traits into the Venn diagram on “Plant Cell or Animal Cell?” Then use “A Cell Is Like a City” to match places in a city to cell parts. | Plant Cell or Animal Cell? (in the pack) A Cell Is Like a City (in the pack) |
| Day 5 | Review with the crossword, then give the quiz. | Cell Vocabulary Crossword (in the pack) Cells Quiz (in the pack) |
The sheets marked “in the pack” are in the free Cells teaching pack below, sent by email.
NGSS standards
- Aligned to MS-LS1-2: Develop and use a model to describe the function of a cell as a whole and ways the parts of cells contribute to the function.
- Supports MS-LS1-1: Conduct an investigation to provide evidence that living things are made of cells; either one cell or many different numbers and types of cells.
Cells teaching pack
Teaching plant and animal cells? This free pack has ready-made lesson slides and 12 printables that cover the whole topic, in teaching order, with every answer key.
OnlineAlso free as an online lesson for Google Classroom: every part on screen for students, plus a self-grading Google Forms quiz. Try it
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Teach Cells with 25 ready-made slides
Open the PowerPoint and teach: an opening question, the parts one at a time on the diagram, quick checks and an exit question. Students fill in the guided notes sheet as you go.
Every slide comes with teacher notes: what to say, what to ask, and sample answers.
The slides (PowerPoint and a PDF copy) and the guided notes sheet come with the free pack, sent by email.
What is in the pack, in teaching order
Free by email
1. TeachLesson Slides25 slides to present, with your notes for each one.Free by email
Free by email
1. TeachCells Guided NotesStudents fill in the blanks as you present. With answer key.Free by email
Free
Free
Free
Free
Free by email
3. ReasonRead the Plant Cell DiagramRead the plant cell picture: find the parts that make food, work out what a wilting plant does to the cell, follow a protein through the cell and decide which part a busy cell needs most.Free by email
Free by email
3. ReasonRead the Animal Cell DiagramRead the animal cell picture: find the parts that release energy, tell a membrane from a wall, follow a protein through the cell and decide which part a muscle cell needs most.Free by email
Free by email
4. ReadInside a CellA one-page text on the parts of a cell and what each does, with eight questions.Free by email
Free by email
5. ComparePlant Cell or Animal Cell?Sort 14 parts and traits into plant cells only, animal cells only, or both.Free by email
Free by email
6. ConnectA Cell Is Like a CityMatch ten places in a city to the cell part that does the same job.Free by email
Free by email
7. ReviewCell Vocabulary CrosswordFifteen cell words with clues and a word bank.Free by email
Free by email
8. CheckCells QuizLabel five parts, six multiple choice and two written answers. Scored out of 13.Free by email
Cells worksheets, crossword and quiz
The Cells teaching pack is 25 lesson slides (PowerPoint and PDF) and 12 printables with answer keys for grades 5 to 8 (introductory level), in the order you would teach them: the guided notes for the lesson slides, 4 diagram sheets, then “Read the Plant Cell Diagram” (a worksheet), “Read the Animal Cell Diagram” (a worksheet), “Inside a Cell” (a reading passage), “Plant Cell or Animal Cell?” (a Venn diagram), “A Cell Is Like a City” (a cell city analogy), a vocabulary crossword and a quiz.
The sheets are in a suggested teaching order: teach the lesson, have students label the blank diagrams, then work through the practice sheets and finish with the quiz. Use them all over a week or pick the ones you need. The answer keys are together at the back.
The diagrams download free on this page. The whole pack, with every sheet, the lesson slides and every answer key, is free by email.
Plant cells are the original solar panels — they capture energy from sunlight and convert it into food that powers nearly every living thing on Earth. Two structures make them unique: chloroplasts, which run photosynthesis, and a rigid cell wall, which gives plants the strength to stand upright without muscles or a skeleton. Everything else in the cell supports those two jobs.
The parts of a plant cell
A plant cell is the basic building block of plants. It shares many parts with an animal cell but has three key structures animals don't: a cell wall, chloroplasts, and a large central vacuole. Here is what happens at each labeled part of the diagram:
| Organelle | What it does | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Cell wall | A rigid outer layer surrounding the cell membrane that gives the plant cell its shape and support. | The cell wall is why plants can stand upright without muscles or a skeleton — it provides structural strength that makes trees, stems, and leaves physically possible. Animal cells have no equivalent. |
| Cell membrane | A thin layer inside the cell wall that controls what enters and leaves the cell. | Even though the cell wall provides structure, the membrane does all the selective filtering — deciding exactly which molecules get in and out to keep the cell's chemistry in balance. |
| Cytoplasm | The jelly-like fluid that fills the cell and holds all the organelles. | The medium through which nutrients, proteins, and signals travel between organelles — without it, the cell's parts couldn't communicate. |
| Nucleus | The control center that holds the DNA and directs the cell's activities. | Contains the full DNA blueprint for the plant — including the instructions for building the proteins that run photosynthesis in the chloroplasts. |
| Nucleolus | A small body inside the nucleus that makes ribosomes. | Ribosomes are the cell's protein-building machines — the nucleolus is where those machines are manufactured before they start work. |
| Chloroplast | The organelle that captures sunlight and uses it to make food through photosynthesis. | The defining feature of plant cells. Without chloroplasts, plants couldn't make their own food — and since nearly every food chain starts with plants, chloroplasts ultimately power almost all life on Earth. |
| Mitochondria | Releases energy from food for the cell to use. | Even though chloroplasts make food, mitochondria release that energy in a form the cell can actually spend. Plants need both — chloroplasts to capture energy, mitochondria to use it. |
| Large central vacuole | A giant water-filled storage sac that takes up most of the cell's volume. | When full of water, the vacuole pushes outward against the cell wall, keeping the plant firm and upright. When a plant wilts, the vacuoles have lost water — watering it refills them and the plant stands up again. |
| Endoplasmic reticulum | A network of membranes that makes and moves proteins and fats around the cell. | The cell's internal highway — carrying newly-made proteins from where they're built to where they're needed. |
| Golgi apparatus | Packages and ships proteins to where they are needed inside or outside the cell. | The cell's post office: sorts and labels proteins, then sends them to the right destination — other organelles, the cell wall, or neighboring cells. |
| Ribosomes | Tiny structures that build proteins. | Every protein in the plant — including the enzymes that run photosynthesis — is built by ribosomes. They're found in all living cells because proteins are universal to life. |
How to print
Choose Download PDF for a ready-to-print file that fits US Letter paper (8.5 × 11") in landscape, or Download PNG for the high-resolution image.
Frequently asked questions
What are the main parts of a plant cell?
A plant cell has a cell wall, cell membrane, cytoplasm, nucleus, nucleolus, chloroplasts, mitochondria, a large central vacuole, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus and ribosomes.
What is the difference between a plant cell and an animal cell?
Plant cells have three structures animal cells lack: a rigid cell wall (for support), chloroplasts (for photosynthesis), and a large central vacuole (for water storage). Animal cells have lysosomes and centrioles instead.
What paper size should I print this on?
The diagram is sized for standard US Letter paper (8.5 × 11") in landscape orientation. Use "Download PDF" for a print-ready file that fits the page automatically.
Are there Cells worksheets to go with the diagram?
Yes. The Cells teaching pack, for grades 5 to 8 (introductory level), has 25 lesson slides and 12 printables with answer keys: the guided notes for the lesson slides, 4 diagram sheets, then “Read the Plant Cell Diagram” (a worksheet), “Read the Animal Cell Diagram” (a worksheet), “Inside a Cell” (a reading passage), “Plant Cell or Animal Cell?” (a Venn diagram), “A Cell Is Like a City” (a cell city analogy), a vocabulary crossword and a quiz. The diagrams download free on this page. The whole pack, with every sheet, the lesson slides and every answer key, is free by email.
Related: Compare with a bacterial (prokaryotic) cell, which has no nucleus, on our bacterial cell diagram.