Animal cell (unlabeled) — free printable diagram

What to label on an animal cell diagram

A blank animal cell diagram is normally used as a labelling exercise, so the parts below are the ones a student is usually expected to identify. An animal cell is defined as much by what it lacks as by what it has: no cell wall, no chloroplasts and no large permanent vacuole, which is why it is drawn with a soft, rounded outline rather than the boxy shape of a plant cell.

Cell membrane

Flexible outer boundary — controls what enters and leaves

Cytoplasm

Jelly-like fluid where most chemical reactions happen

Nucleus

Holds the DNA and controls the cell's activities

Mitochondria

Release energy through respiration

Ribosomes

Where proteins are made

• The outermost layer of an animal cell is the cell membrane, not a cell wall. Students who have just labelled a plant cell often carry the wall across by mistake, so it is worth marking for specifically.
• Because there is no rigid wall, an animal cell has no fixed shape and is usually drawn rounded or irregular. The shape itself is a labelling clue.
• Mitochondria are often drawn as small ovals with an inner folded line. Cells that use a lot of energy, such as muscle cells, contain far more of them than cells that do not.
• Ribosomes are the smallest structures on the diagram and are usually shown as dots. Students frequently miss them, so they make a good final check.
• An animal cell can have a vacuole, but it is small and temporary rather than the single large permanent one drawn in a plant cell.
• Labelling an animal cell and a plant cell side by side is the standard way to teach this: the shared parts are the membrane, cytoplasm, nucleus, mitochondria and ribosomes, and everything else belongs to the plant cell alone.