Sheppard Software's "Animal Cell" (at sheppardsoftware.com) provides students with an interactive tutorial outlining the parts of an animal cell. After going through the tutorial, students drag tags with the name of cell parts to the correct location on the cell. A quiz that gives students a description of a part of the cell and asks them to click on the correct answer in a cell diagram is also available. Purpose Game's "Animal Cell" (at purposegames.com) times students as they are given the name of a cell part and work to click on the correct part of the animal cell.
Soft School's "Basic Parts of Plant Cells Word Scramble Fun" (at softschools.com) asks students to unscramble letters and earn points by correctly spelling words related to plant cells. What2Learn's "Plant Cell" (at what2learn.com) gives students six parts of a plant cell that they must correctly drag to the appropriate place on the diagram. "Cell Inspector" from HMH School Publishers (at harcourtschool.com) is a similar game, in which students must correctly match cellular labels to the corresponding parts of the cell.
Online games are not the only way for students to learn the parts of the cell. In the classroom, place an unlabeled diagram of a plant or animal cell on the board. Students must correctly identify the cell as plant or animal and race to see who can be the first to correctly label all of the parts. Science supply companies sell cross-section models that teachers can pass around the classroom and use to quiz students on the parts of a cell.
Virtual tours of cells are learning tools that are as engaging as games for students. CELLS alive! (at cellsalive.com) offers interactive plant and animal cell models for teachers to display on an interactive whiteboard. Invite students to the board to click on the names of different cell parts and read the descriptions to the class. Studying flashcards with plant and animal cell terms will help the class review for an upcoming quiz.