NCERT Solutions for Class 5th The World Around Us Chapter 8 Patterns with Threads — In-text Questions
Book page 131 Updated on2026-09-19
Q1.
What do you see in the picture below?The picture printed at the top of page 131.
Answer
I see a small bird and two hanging nests made of grass. The nests hang from a plant with big green leaves.
Look at the picture on page 131 carefully and write what you notice.
What I look at
What I see
The bird
A small bird with a bright yellow head and cap, a brown back and a strong short beak. It is sitting on the left, holding a long strand in its beak.
The first nest
A long nest, wider at the top and narrowing at the bottom, hanging straight down from a branch.
The second nest
A rounder, rougher nest hanging beside it, with loose ends of grass sticking out.
What the nests are made of
Hundreds of thin strands of dry grass, going across one another — over and under, over and under.
Where they hang
From the stems of a leafy plant, high above the ground, swinging free.
Why this picture opens the chapter: The nest is not glued and it is not tied in one knot. Each strand of grass has been passed over one strand and under the next, again and again, until the strands hold each other. That is exactly what weaving means. So the chapter begins by showing you a woven thing made by a bird, before it shows you a woven thing made by people.
Look for yourself: Hanging baya nests are easy to spot on a babool or palm tree near fields, and near water. Look up in the months after the rains. You will often see several nests on one tree, because many males build close together.
Q2.
Did you know we have a hidden artist around us who has been weaving long before humans ever did?
Answer
Yes — the hidden artist is the baya weaverbird. The book tells us about it on page 132. Birds and insects were weaving, stitching and gluing long before people learnt to make cloth.
What the male baya does, step by step:
He tears long thin strips of grass with his beak.
He carries one strip at a time to a branch.
He winds the first few strips round the branch to make a ring to stand on.
Then he weaves — he pushes a strip over one strand and under the next, and pulls it tight.
He repeats this hundreds of times, until the nest becomes a strong hanging pouch.
The finished nest swings from the branch and is safe from animals that cannot climb out that far.
The book also tells us something interesting about who weaves well:
Who is weaving
What the nest looks like
An expert baya
Very fine and neat, tightly woven
A young bird, still learning
Rather rough and loose
Why it matters: Even a bird has to practise before its weaving becomes good. It is exactly the same for a person learning to weave cloth, or learning to stitch. Skill is not magic. It comes from doing the same careful thing many, many times.
Other hidden artists: the spider spins a web of silk. The tailorbird stitches a leaf. The honeybee builds wax rooms. The weaver ant glues leaves together with silk from its own young ones. Nature has been making things out of thread for a very long time.