NCERT Solutions for Class 5th The World Around Us Chapter 8 Patterns with Threads — Activity 1
Book page 133 Updated on2026-09-19
Q1.
1. Take 5 – 6 strips of blue paper and tape them at the top of a surface. 2. Take another set of yellow paper strips and weave them through — over, under, over, under. 3. Keep repeating until you get a mat.
Answer
What you will get: a flat mat with a blue-and-yellow checked pattern, exactly like the last picture on page 133. The strips are not glued to each other anywhere — yet if you lift the mat, it holds together and does not fall apart.
How to do it:
Cut 5 or 6 strips of blue paper. Make them all about 2 cm wide and 20 cm long.
Lay them side by side on the desk, straight up and down, with a small gap between them.
Stick a strip of tape across the top ends so they cannot move.
Cut the same number of yellow strips, the same width.
Take the first yellow strip. Pass it over blue strip 1, under blue strip 2, over blue strip 3, under blue strip 4, and so on. Push it right up to the tape.
Take the second yellow strip. Start the other way round — under blue strip 1, over blue strip 2, under blue strip 3. Push it up close to the first one.
Keep going, changing the start every time, until all the yellow strips are used. Tape the loose ends at the sides.
Where a blue square shows, the blue strip is on top. Where a yellow square shows, the yellow strip is on top. Over, under, over, under.
Why the mat holds together: Each yellow strip is trapped — it is held down by one blue strip and held up by the next. The blue strips are trapped in the same way. Nothing can slide out without pushing all the others aside. In the book's words, when the threads are carefully crossed over and under each other, they form a unified fabric — one single piece.
Getting the pattern right: If two yellow strips start the same way, you will see stripes instead of checks. So remember the rule — every new strip starts opposite to the one above it.
Q2.
4. Can you use this method to make a basket?
Answer
Yes, you can. A basket is only a woven mat whose sides have been folded up and woven together. The weaving is exactly the same — over, under, over, under.
How to turn your mat into a basket:
Weave a mat as in Activity 1, but leave the ends of all the strips long — do not cut them short.
Put a small box or a katori upside down in the middle of the mat. This will be your shape.
Fold all the strips up along the edges of the box. Now they stand up like a fence.
Take a fresh long strip. Weave it round and round the standing strips — over one, under the next.
Add more strips going round, one above the other, until the wall is as high as you want.
Fold the top ends over inwards and tuck each one into the weave, or paste them down to make a neat rim.
Lift out the box. The basket keeps its shape.
Why it works: A mat and a basket are made in the very same way. The only difference is that in a basket the strips do not stay flat — they turn a corner and go up. This is exactly how a bamboo tokri, a cane basket and the palm-leaf baskets in the photograph on page 133 are made.
Try this: Use paper strips of two colours and keep the over-under order correct even on the wall of the basket. You will get a checked pattern going round the basket, just like the green-and-yellow basket in the book's photograph.
Q3.
Try using materials other than paper, such as strings, ropes, ribbons or reeds.
Answer
Every one of these can be woven, and each gives a different kind of mat. The method never changes — one set of strands stays still, the other set goes over and under.
How to weave with string or rope:
Take a small wooden frame, or the lid of a shoe box with notches cut along the two shorter edges.
Wind a strong string round and round the frame, from notch to notch, to make the still set of threads. Keep it tight.
Now take a woollen thread or a ribbon of another colour.
Pass it over one string and under the next, all the way across.
Come back the other way, starting opposite to how you finished.
Push each row down close to the one before it. Keep going till the frame is full.
Cut the strings at the back and knot them in pairs. Lift out your small woven mat or coaster.
Material
How it behaves
Good for making
Paper strips
Stiff, easy to hold, tears if pulled hard
A practice mat, a greeting card
Wool or cotton string
Soft and bendy, needs a frame to hold it tight
A coaster, a small rug, a wall hanging
Rope or coir
Thick and rough, very strong
A doormat, the base of a stool
Ribbon
Smooth and shiny, slides about
A pretty bookmark, a decoration
Reeds, palm leaf, grass
Bend well when fresh, become stiff on drying
A chatai, a basket, a fan
What you learn by changing the material: The pattern stays the same but the mat changes completely. A rope mat is rough and can be walked on. A wool mat is soft and warm. So a weaver chooses the material by asking one question — what is this cloth going to be used for?
Tip: Slippery materials like ribbon keep sliding out. Tape both ends down, or use a frame, and push each row up tight against the last one.