NCERT Solutions for Class 5th English Chapter 5 A. Answer the following questions — Let us Think

Book page 56 Updated on2026-09-19

Q1.

Where does the frog like to sit or spend time?

Answer

The frog likes to sit in ponds and in the rain, and it hops about in a muddy drain.

The poem says so in its very first two lines:

“I sit in ponds and in the rain,
Or hop about in a muddy drain.”

Later the frog tells us more about its places. It says, “I live on land and water too, / In places damp with drops of dew.” Damp means a little wet. Dew means the tiny water drops that sit on grass early in the morning. It also hides in “grass and leaves”, and it calls the pond its own — “Yet in my pond, I feel so proud.”

So the frog’s favourite places are:

the pond
out in the rain
a muddy drain
damp ground with dew on it
inside grass and leaves

Why it likes these places: A frog’s skin must stay wet. If its skin dries up, the frog cannot stay well. So it keeps to places where there is water or at least damp air. That is why you hear frogs most on a rainy night and hardly at all in the hot, dry days before the rains.

Q2.

How does the frog catch its food?

Answer

The frog catches its food by flicking out its tongue very fast.

The poem says:

“I flick my tongue to catch my food,
It works so fast—now that’s quite good!”

Flick means to shoot something out and pull it back in one quick snap. The frog sits very still. When an insect comes near, its long, sticky tongue shoots out, the insect sticks to it, and the tongue comes back into the mouth. It is over in less than the time you take to blink.

Why a sticky tongue works so well: The frog cannot chase a fly — a fly is far quicker in the air. So instead of chasing, the frog waits and strikes. Its tongue is joined at the front of its mouth, not at the back like ours, so it can be thrown out a long way. And it is sticky, so the insect cannot get away.

Did you know? Frogs eat mosquitoes, flies and other insects. A pond full of frogs means fewer mosquitoes in the houses nearby. In the letter on page 61, Hopper the frog says exactly this: “I love eating mosquitoes and other insects.”

Q3.

How does the frog move in water and on land?

Answer

In water the frog swims with its webbed feet. On land it hops and jumps very high.

The last stanza tells us both:

“I hop around, I jump so high,
Up I go into the sky!
With webbed feet, I swim with ease,
And leap so high in joyful breeze!”

Where	How it moves	The line that says so
In water	It swims, easily, using its webbed feet	“With webbed feet, I swim with ease,”
On land	It hops about and leaps high	“I hop around, I jump so high,” · “And leap so high…”

Webbed feet have a thin skin joining the toes, so the foot opens out like a small fan.

Why the same legs do both jobs: The frog’s back legs are long and folded up like a spring. On land it straightens them all at once, and the push sends it flying forward. In water it straightens them the same way, but now the webbed feet push against the water instead of the ground. One pair of legs, two ways of using them.

Try this: Open your hand wide and push it through a bucket of water with the fingers apart. Now close the fingers and push again. With the fingers closed your hand pushes much more water. Webbed feet do the same thing for the frog.

Q4.

What helps the frog hide in its surroundings?

Answer

The frog’s colours help it hide. Its green and brown colours look just like the plants around it.

The poem says:

“My colours match the plants and trees,
I hide so well in grass and leaves!”

Surroundings means everything around a thing — here, the grass, the leaves, the plants and the muddy bank of the pond. Because the frog is the same colour as all of that, an enemy looking down at the pond sees only leaves.

Why hiding matters so much: The very next stanza tells us: “But snakes are near, I must beware, / Or else they’ll catch me unaware!” A snake hunts by seeing movement and shape. If the frog sits still and its colour matches the leaves, the snake looks straight past it. The frog’s colour is not a decoration — it is its safety.

The word for this: When an animal’s colour matches its surroundings so that it cannot be seen, we call it camouflage (say it: KA-moo-flaazh). A grasshopper in green grass and a moth on brown bark do the same thing.

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