Download What Holds a Cell Together?

What Holds a Cell
Together?
Have you ever made a water balloon? Can you
picture what a water balloon looks and feels
like? The balloon is a thin material that holds
the water inside. Yet, the water inside the
balloon can still move.
All plants and animals are made of tiny units
called cells. A cell is put together like a water
balloon. In plant and animal cells, the cell
membrane is like the balloon. It covers the
cell and holds liquid and other things inside it.
Cell membrane
Plant and
animal cells
have cell
membranes.
Cell wall
Plant cells
also have cell
walls.
Inside of cell
Animal Cell
Plant Cell
The cell membrane gives a cell its shape.
But unlike a balloon, a cell membrane also
controls what goes in and out of a cell.
Plant and animal cells are similar. However,
plant cells have some features that animal cells
do not. Plant cells have cell walls. The cell wall
is a stiff structure that covers the cell
membrane. If you placed a water balloon inside
a box, the box would be like the cell wall.
The cell wall is thick and strong. It helps hold
plants up. Together, the cell wall and the cell
membrane control what goes in and out of a
plant cell.
Discovery Education Science
Cell walls hold these
plants up.
© 2007 Discovery Communications, LLC