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NCERT Solutions for Class 4th The World Around Us Chapter 3 End of chapter questions and activities — Let us reflect

Book page 55–56 Updated on2026-09-19

Q1.
Which animal would you love to be? What special abilities would it give you?
Answer

This answer is your own choice. Pick one animal, then say what its special feature would let you do.

If I were aIts special featureWhat I could then do
EagleSharp eyes, wide wings, strong clawsSee a small animal from very high up, and fly over hills
TigerStriped coat and soft padded pawsHide in tall grass and walk without a sound
ElephantA long trunkPick up food, pull down branches and give myself a shower
FishFins and gillsSwim all day and breathe under water
Indian Giant SquirrelA long bushy tailLeap a long way from branch to branch without falling

Sample answer: I would love to be an eagle. Its eyes are so sharp that it can spot a small animal while flying high in the sky. Its wide wings would let me fly over the hills and see the whole forest below. Its strong, sharp claws would help me hold on to any branch.

What makes a good answer here: Do not just name an animal. Name the feature as well, and say what that feature would let you do. That is the whole point of the chapter — each animal has features that suit its life.
Q2.
How do you think different plants and animals are dependent on each other?
Answer

They depend on each other mainly for food and for a home.

Who dependsOn whomFor what
Deer, elephant, squirrel, grasshopperPlantsLeaves, grass, fruits, seeds — their food
Tiger, lion, eagle, snakePlant-eating animalsTheir food
Birds, monkeys, insectsTreesA place to sit, sleep and build a nest
Fish, frogs, turtlesThe pond and the water plantsWater, food and a safe place
PlantsInsects and birdsThey carry seeds to new places, so new plants grow far away
PlantsFallen leaves and animal wasteThey rot and make the soil rich
SunGrassDeerTiger
One chain from the forest in this chapter.

Follow the chain: the Sun helps the grass grow, the deer eats the grass, and the tiger eats the deer. Remove any one of them and the rest are in trouble.

Why this matters: This is exactly what the ‘Web of Life’ game shows. Nothing in nature lives alone. Because everything is joined, harming one plant or one animal harms many others as well.
Q3.
What is the role of a nature scientist?
Answer

A nature scientist studies plants and animals. In this chapter Abha Didi is a nature scientist, and the teacher says she will guide the students in exploring the forest.

Her work is:

  • to watch plants and animals closely in the place where they live;
  • to note down what they look like, what they eat, how they move and where they sit;
  • to name them, the way she names the hornbill and explains why it is called a hornbill;
  • to find out how plants and animals depend on one another;
  • to tell visitors the safety rules and make sure nobody harms the forest;
  • to help protect plants and animals and the places where they live.
Why we need such scientists: Most of us pass an animal without really seeing it. A nature scientist looks carefully, keeps a record, and then teaches others — and we can only protect what we know about.
Tip: When you keep a Bird Diary, you are doing exactly what a nature scientist does.
Q4.
Solve the puzzle. Find the treasures of the forest.
TIGERUWEBHF
QSPARROWSOO
EGRETQWABRO
JABANYANINT
ELEPHANTSBP
DEERPGWEOIR
PEZPALNCNLI
USNAKEOTRLN
SQUIRRELZAT
KINGFISHERB
Answer

TIGER is already circled for you. Twelve more words are hidden — ten across and three down (TIGER is one of the across words).

Words that go across (left to right):

WordRowStarts at column
TIGER11 (given)
WEB17
SPARROWS22
EGRET31
BANYAN43
ELEPHANTS51
DEER61
SNAKE82
SQUIRREL91
KINGFISHER101

Words that go down (top to bottom):

WordColumnStarts at row
HORNBILL101
FOOTPRINT111
BISON93

The solved grid — every letter that belongs to a word is marked.

TIGERUWEBHF
QSPARROWSOO
EGRETQWABRO
JABANYANINT
ELEPHANTSBP
DEERPGWEOIR
PEZPALNCNLI
USNAKEOTRLN
SQUIRRELZAT
KINGFISHERB
How to search a grid like this: First read every row from left to right. Then read every column from top to bottom. The three long down-words, HORNBILL, FOOTPRINT and BISON, sit in the last three columns, which is why they are easy to miss.
Did you know? Every one of these thirteen words comes from this chapter. The bison is the gaur the students saw near the pond, and the footprint is the mark Arya found in the mud. Two small bonus words also hide in the grid: ANT goes down column 8 from row 3, and BEE goes down column 3 from row 4.
Q5.
Take on the challenge. Plan a nature walk with your family or friends in a nearby park. To prepare yourself as a guide, identify few plants and animals, and study their features and interesting facts which you can explain during the walk.
Answer

Prepare like a real guide. Work through these steps.

  1. Choose the place and time. A nearby park or a school ground. Early morning is best, because that is when birds are most active.
  2. Visit once by yourself first. Walk slowly and decide four or five stops.
  3. Pick what you will show. Three plants and three animals is enough.
  4. Find one fact about each. Ask your teacher or an elder, or look it up.
  5. Make a guide sheet like the one below and keep it in your pocket.
  6. Start the walk with the safety rules from page 37 — no plucking, no feeding, no noise, no polythene, no garbage.

Sample answer — a guide sheet for a park walk.

StopWhat I will showThe fact I will tell
1Peepal treeIts leaf has a long tail at the tip, so it moves in the smallest breeze
2Neem treeOne stalk carries many small leaflets; the leaves taste bitter
3A row of antsAn insect has six legs and one pair of antennae — count them
4Sparrows on the groundTheir short strong beak cracks open seeds
5A crow on a wallIts thick beak lets it eat almost anything
6A squirrel on a treeIts bushy tail helps it balance while it runs along a branch
What makes a good guide: A guide is not someone who knows everything. A guide is someone who has looked carefully first, and who can show others what to notice.
Q6.
Do an activity. Role-play: Create a scene of a forest in your classroom where students can perform roles of plants and animals, and of visitors. While enacting the play, focus on our role to protect animals and plants.
Answer

How to put on the play:

  1. Make the forest. Put green chart paper trees on the walls. Spread a blue sheet on the floor for the pond.
  2. Give out the roles. Some children are plants (a banyan, a neem, grass), some are animals (a tiger, a deer, a monkey, a sparrow, an ant), and some are visitors with a guide.
  3. Make simple masks from old paper — ears for the deer, a beak for the bird.
  4. Act the scene. The visitors come in noisily, drop a polythene bag and try to feed the monkey. The animals run away and hide.
  5. Turn the scene around. The guide reminds everyone of the safety rules. The visitors pick up their litter, sit quietly — and one by one the animals come back.
  6. End with one line each. The tree says ‘I give you shade’, the deer says ‘I eat grass’, the tiger says ‘I need the deer’, the visitor says ‘I will not harm this forest’.
What the play should show: The forest is the animals’ home and we are only visitors. Quiet, careful visitors see the most, and leave the forest as they found it.
Q7.
Let us make a paper turtle! Try using an old newspaper or used paper.
123456789
The nine folding steps printed in the book.
Answer

Take a square sheet of old newspaper. Then follow the nine steps.

  1. Place the square like a diamond. Fold it in half both ways and open it out again, so that you can see the two creases.
  2. Fold it in half to make a triangle. Now bring the two lower corners up to the top corner.
  3. You get a diamond. Fold the top flap down along the middle.
  4. Fold the two upper side corners outwards along the dotted lines.
  5. The shape now has points on all sides. Cut the lowest flap along the dotted line, as the scissors show.
  6. Fold the cut edges inwards to shape the shell.
  7. Fold the small middle flap upwards — this becomes the head.
  8. Turn the paper over.
  9. Your turtle is ready. Draw two eyes on the head.
Why old paper: The book says to use an old newspaper or used paper. Using paper again means one less tree has to be cut.
Tip: Press every fold hard with your thumbnail. Sharp creases make the turtle hold its shape.
Q8.
Find out. Write the name of your state animal, bird, and plant.
Answer

You have to find out the answer for your own state. Do it like this.

  1. Ask your teacher, or look in the school library.
  2. Look at the board at the entrance of a zoo, a park or a forest office — state symbols are often painted there.
  3. Ask at home. Elders often know the state animal.
  4. Write all three names in your notebook, and draw one of them.

Some examples you can check:

StateState animalState birdState tree
Madhya PradeshSwamp deer (Barasingha)Indian paradise flycatcher (Dudhraj)Banyan
TripuraSpectacled monkeyGreen imperial pigeonAgar
MaharashtraIndian giant squirrel (Shekru)Yellow-footed green pigeonMango
RajasthanChinkaraGreat Indian bustardKhejri
KeralaIndian elephantGreat hornbillCoconut palm
Tamil NaduNilgiri tahrEmerald dovePalmyra palm
Why states choose these: A state chooses an animal, a bird and a tree that belong specially to that place, so that people take pride in them and protect them. The chapter itself tells us one: the Spectacled Monkey is the state animal of Tripura.
Tip: Two of the animals in this chapter are state symbols — the Spectacled Monkey of Tripura and the Indian Giant Squirrel of Maharashtra. Always check your own state’s names with your teacher before writing them down.
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