Facts About Plant and Animal Cells for Kids {+ Activities They’ll Love!}
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Are you teaching your kids facts about plant and animal cells? Here’s all the information, resources, and activities you need for your homeschool lesson plans!
The difference in the make up between plant and animal cells is not that great, but their functions are completely unique. And let’s not forget, in this amazing world of ours, there are not two, but three kinds of cells that are the building blocks of all living things: plant cells, animal cells, and cells without a nucleus.
However, today we are only going to be covering plant cells and animal cells. I’ll share some interesting facts about plant and animal cells you can teach your kids, plus a couple of printables you can use to supplement your lesson!
The great thing about homeschooling is that you can include this into your home study curriculum no matter which homeschooling style you follow.
Let’s dive straight in!
Starting with the Basics
First, you can teach your kids what an organism is. An organism is an individual plant, animal, or single-cell life form. Multicellular organisms have more than one cell, compared to unicellular single-celled organisms.
Throughout the body, or the plant, different cells have various functions they perform to sustain life. Cells containing a nucleus (plant and animal cells) are called eukaryotic cells (yoo kehr ee aht’ik). Cells without a nucleus are called prokaryotic cells (pro kehr ee aht’ik).
Teaching Tip: Once your kids have learned how to say these two words, print them out on two different pieces of colored paper and stick them on the wall. Then, have them search magazines for examples, cut them out, and stick them under the correct heading. If you’re unable to find any images (such as for the prokaryotic kind of cells) take this opportunity to research it at your library or on the internet, and draw examples and stick those drawings on the wall under the heading.
Cell organelles are like the internal organs of a cell, and they all have different functions. Cell division is the division of a cell into two daughter cells with the same genetic material.
Click here to grab your copy of my Plant & Animal Cells Learning Pack, which will be useful to your kids as you work through learning the differences between plant and animal cells.
What is a cell?
Next, you’ll want your child to understand what a cell is. Now is a great time to recap if you have already covered the basics of cells in your homeschooling lessons!
Cells are the basic unit of life of all living organisms. ALL living organisms are made of cells; this includes humans, animals, plants, and bacteria. A rock, a plastic bottle, and a metal straw are non-living, and are therefore not made up of cells.
Millions and millions of atoms make up a cell.
Watch this YouTube video as a refresher on cells: Types of Cells (Science for Kids) – Bing video.
Where are cells found in the body?
Cells make up every part of the body: we have bone cells, skin cells, stem cells, epithelial cells, nerve cells, muscle cells, blood cells, and many more.
Cells are grouped by the specific function they perform, so your blood cells will have a different shape and a different function from the cells in your bones.
Stem cells are unique in that these cells are the only ones that are unspecialized, and can convert into the cells that your body needs to replicate, build and repair various parts of the body.
I’ve got a free resource you may want to download to help your kids learn about 10 different types of cells in the human body. Grab it below!
Different Parts of the Animal Cell and Plant Cell
Let’s learn each component of plants and animal cells! First, you can go over the following information with your kids, then I’ll share some fun hands-on activity ideas.
As they learn, your kids can fill in the new vocabulary in their Plant & Animal Cell Learning Pack.
Let’s start with the outer layer:
Cell Wall
Here is the first difference between plant and animal cells: plant cells are larger than animal cells and have cell walls, which helps to keep all of the cell’s contents intact. Animal cells DO NOT have a cell wall.
A plant cell’s rigid cell walls are generally rectangular or cube-shaped.
Vacuole
This is another difference between plant and animal cells: A plant cell has one large central vacuole that takes up most of the plant cell’s mass. This large vacuole stores water and helps the cell maintain turgor pressure
The animal cell has many small vacuoles that store the cell’s food and nutrients. These smaller vacuoles are temporary and store nutrients, ions, and water.
Nucleus & the Nucleolus
The true nucleus is considered the ‘brain’ of the cell. The nuclear membrane, also known as the nuclear envelope, is the double-layered membrane that keeps the contents of the nucleus separate from the rest of the cell.
The nucleus of a cell has two main functions:
1) It contains all the DNA of the cell
2) Functions as a “brain” of the cell
The nucleolus is found inside the nucleus and this is where ribosomes are made (which will be discussed later).
Membranes
Cell membrane: Only plant cells have a cell membrane; it is the outer edge of the cell and forms the cell’s boundary.
Plasma membrane: Animal cells have a semi-permeable plasma membrane surrounding the animal cell. Because of this, animal cells have irregular shapes as various substances pass through this membrane.
Cytoplasm
Both plant cells and animal cells contain cytoplasm.
This is the ‘meat’ of the cell in which the other parts are suspended. Think of it as a kind of jelly-like substance. The main function of the cytoplasm is to hold the organelles in place.
Another name for cytoplasm is cytosol.
Mitochondria
Appearance: A mitochondrion is a round to oval-shaped organelle found in eukaryotic organisms. They are found suspended in the cytoplasm.
What do they do: The main function of the mitochondria (plural) is to make ATP (adenosine triphosphate) that is a molecule that the cells use as a source of energy.
Golgi Apparatus
Appearance: The Golgi apparatus is a stack of semi-circular, or flattened, sac-like membranes that look similar to a stack of pancakes.
What does it do: The Golgi apparatus is extremely clever. It packages and processes the macromolecules, such as proteins and lipids (fats). They come to the Golgi after they have been built, they are inspected here, any extra bits of material not needed as discarded, and then the macromolecules are packaged up before they head off to their destination.
Ribosomes
Appearance: A ribosome is the smallest organelle in the cell. Each ribosome is made up of two sub-units and looks like a little hamburger bun.
Perhaps a way to remember this is to think of a burger and meat, and rib. Then think of the word ribosomes has the word ‘rib’ in it! It has a big unit which is the top bun, and a small unit which is the bottom bun.
An animal cell contains approximately 10 million ribosomes.
What does it do: It works like a factory and its job is to make new proteins.
Endoplasmic Reticulum
Appearance: The rough endoplasmic reticulum has ribosomes attached to the surface. The smooth endoplasmic reticulum does not have ribosomes attached.
What does it do: It is involved in protein synthesis and lipid synthesis
IN ADDITION, THE FOLLOWING ARE FOUND IN PLANT CELLS:
Chloroplasts
Appearance: Chloroplasts are membrane-bound organelles found inside the cells of plants and algae and help plants to make its own food. They have a double membrane made up of an outer membrane and an inner membrane.
What does it do: Chloroplasts contain the molecule called chlorophyll. Chloroplasts absorb light energy and convert it into chemical energy during the process of photosynthesis. They also use water and carbon dioxide to produce sugar, and they give off oxygen.
Activity: Make a Cell Model
Making a cell model is a great activity for your kids so they can visually see the difference between plant and animal cells!
Decide if you want to make an an edible cell model or a non-edible one, and then decide if you want to make a plant cell model, or an animal cell model.
If you’re feeling ambitious, or have more than one child, let one create the animal cell and the other create the plant cell as it will be easier to see and learn the differences.
Here are six fun and educational tutorials from other fab homeschooling moms, showing you various ways to create both plant and animal cells.
Animal Cell Models
Plant Cell Models
The Key Differences between Plant and Animal Cells
Let’s recap some of the differences between plant and animal cells you’ll want to review with your kids. They will use this information to fill in the Compare & Contrast page in their learning pack!
I’ve already mentioned that both plant life and animal life consist of cells that perform specific functions to keep the organism alive and thriving.
While animals ingest food to provide energy and survive, plants use sunlight, starches, nutrients, and water to create their food by photosynthesis.
| ANIMAL CELL FACTS | PLANT CELL FACTS |
| It is enclosed by a thin, flexible, living plasma membrane only. | It is enclosed by a thick, dead cell wall in addition to plasma membrane. |
| It has many small temporary vacuoles. | It has one large permanent vacuole. |
| Nucleus is near the center. | The nucleus is usually pressed to the side of the cell because of the large vacuole. |
| Usually a lot of mitochondria | Fewer mitochondria |
| Cells might change shape and move about. | The cell wall helps the cell to maintain its shape. |
| Stores carbohydrate as glycogen. | Stores carbohydrate as starch. |
| A lot of rough endoplasmic reticulum | Little rough endoplasmic reticulum |
| If placed in hypotonic solution, animal cells swell up and burst due to lack of cell wall | If placed in hypotonic solution, plant cells do not swell up or burst due to the presence of cell wall. |
Your kids will use the Venn Diagram provided in the Plant & Animal Cells Learning Pack to write out the various components of both the animal cells and the plants cells and see which components belong to both.
Teaching Plant and Animal Cells in Your Homeschool
Cells are incredibly complex and important, with amazing features! Children should learn about cells if they are interested in botany, growing food for the future, grafting plants, working with animals i.e. veterinarians, forensics, and medical sciences.
Create models out of cardboard, foam sheets, clay, polystyrene, jelly, pasta, wire, stickers. Grab your tools and have fun learning!
I’d love to hear from you in the comments: what are some of your favorite resources to use in teaching facts about plant and animal cells to your kids? Let me know!
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What a great lesson plan for animal and plant cells, Sara! Love how well you’ve outlined the vocabulary too!
Thank you, Lindsay!
Wow what a thorough lesson. I saved this for when we tackle cells and organisms. Very helpful!