NCERT Solutions for Class 5th English Chapter 5 C. Move three crayons to turn the fish around — Let us Do
Book page 64 Updated on2026-09-19
Q1.
Move three crayons to change the direction in which the fish is swimming.
Answer
First, look carefully at the fish you are given. It is made of eight crayons and it is swimming to the right.
The nose is the sharp point on the right, where the green crayon and the pink crayon meet.
The body is the diamond in the middle — four crayons: magenta, green, pink and yellow.
The tail is the two crayons splayed out on the left — purple and sky-blue.
The two fins are the blue crayon going up-left from the top corner and the blue crayon going down-left from the bottom corner.
The answer: move these three crayons.
Take the sky-blue crayon — it is the lower arm of the old tail. Lay it just above the purple crayon, so that the two of them now meet at a single point at the far left. That point is the fish’s new nose.
Take the lower blue crayon — the fin under the body. Carry it right across to the top and lay it so that it carries straight on from the sky-blue crayon you have just moved, going up to the right, past the top corner. It is now the top fin.
Take the pink crayon — the lower right edge of the body. Lay it just above the green crayon, so that the pink one and the green one now spread apart from the same corner, making a V that opens to the right. That V is the new tail.
The five crayons you never touch are the purple, the yellow, the magenta, the upper blue and the green.
The three numbered crayons are the only ones that move. Everything else stays exactly where it was.
Why only three moves are needed: Look at the fish as four straight lines, each made of two crayons — two lines slanting down-right and two slanting up-right, crossing like a slanted hash. Five of those crayons already sit exactly where the reversed fish needs them. Only three are in the wrong place. The trick is to find the five you can leave alone before you start moving anything.
Check your answer with these three tests: (1) Is there still a sharp point where two crayons meet, and is it now on the left? (2) Are there two crayons spreading out like a V at the other end, for the tail? (3) Is the diamond-shaped body still closed, with no gaps? If all three are yes, your fish has turned round.
Do it with real crayons. Lay eight crayons on the table exactly as in the book, then move them one at a time and count your moves aloud. Puzzles like this are much easier with your hands than with your eyes alone.