NCERT Solutions for Class 6th Science Chapter 10 Living Creatures: Exploring their Characteristics
Updated on 2026-09-19
About this chapter
A living being shows a whole set of characteristics together: it moves, needs food, grows, respires, excretes, responds to stimuli, reproduces and finally dies . If even one of these is missing, the thing is non-living. No single characteristic is enough by itself. A car moves but is non-living; a banyan tree never walks anywhere but is very much alive. Plants do move — flowers open, Drosera traps insects, climbers wind around a support. A seed germinates when it gets the right amount of water and air . Sunlight is not needed for the germination of bean seeds, though the seedling needs it to grow afterwards. Water softens the seed coat so the tiny embryo inside can develop. Activity 10.3 shows that a root always grows downwards and a shoot always grows upwards , even if the plant is turned
- Living beings and non-living things in our surroundings
- .1 What Sets the Living Apart from the Non-living?
- .1
- .2 Essential Conditions for Germination of a Seed
- .2
- .3 Growth and Movement in Plants
- .3
- .4 Life Cycle of a Plant
- .5 Life Cycle of Animals
- .5.1
Quick revision
| Term | What it means | Where it comes in the chapter | Example you can see |
|---|---|---|---|
| Living being | Something that moves, eats, grows, respires, excretes, responds to stimuli, reproduces and dies | Section 10.1, page 184 | A pigeon at the classroom window |
| Non-living thing | Something in which one or more of these characteristics is absent | Section 10.1, page 187 | A pencil, a chair, a car |
| Movement | Change of position of the whole body or of a part of it | Page 185 | Leaves of Drosera folding over an insect |
| Growth | A permanent increase in size, from inside the body itself | Page 185 | Last year's school dress no longer fits |
| Nutrition | Taking in food for growth, repair and energy | Page 186 | A cow chewing fodder; a plant making food in its leaves |
| Respiration | The life process that releases energy from food; breathing is a part of it | Page 186 | Counting your breaths after running |
| Stomata | Tiny pores on the surface of a leaf through which air moves in and out | Page 186 | Seen on a leaf peel under a microscope |
| Excretion | Removal of waste products from the body | Page 186 | Sweat patches on a shirt; dew-like droplets on grass |
| Stimulus | Anything or any event that makes a living being respond | Page 187 | Stepping on a thorn; touching a hot cup |
| Reproduction | Producing new ones of one's own kind — it keeps life continuing | Page 187 | A cat with her kittens; a bean pod full of seeds |
| Germination | A seed turning into a sprout | Section 10.2, page 189 | Soaked chana sprouting on wet cloth |
| Seed coat and embryo | The outer covering of a seed, and the tiny plant inside it | Page 190 | Split a soaked rajma seed and look |
| Life cycle | The whole path from a seed (or an egg) to the next generation of seeds (or eggs) | Sections 10.4 and 10.5 | Bean plant; mosquito; frog |
| Larva and pupa | Two worm-like stages in the development of a mosquito, both living in water | Page 197 | Wrigglers in a cooler or an open drum |
| Spawn | The jelly-like cluster of frog eggs floating at the edge of a pond | Page 200 | A pond after the first monsoon rain |
| Tadpole and froglet | The tailed young of a frog, and the little frog it becomes | Page 201 | A village pond in July |
Exercises
- Living beings and non-living things in our surroundings — Activity 10.1: Let us record Page 184
- .1 What Sets the Living Apart from the Non-living? — In-text Questions Page 18410
- .1 — In-text Questions Page 185 & 18610
- .1 — In-text Questions Page 18610
- .1 — In-text Questions Page 186 & 18710
- .1 — In-text Questions Page 187 & 18810
- .2 Essential Conditions for Germination of a Seed — Activity 10.2: Let us experiment Page 188 & 18910
- .2 — In-text Questions Page 19010
- .2 — In-text Questions Page 19110
- .3 Growth and Movement in Plants — In-text Questions Page 19110
- .3 — Activity 10.3: Let us design Page 192 & 19310
- .4 Life Cycle of a Plant — Activity 10.4: Let us explore Page 194 & 19510
- .5 Life Cycle of Animals — In-text Questions Page 19610
- .5.1 — In-text Questions Page 19710
- .5.1 — Activity 10.5: Let us analyse Page 198 & 19910
- .5.2 Life cycle of a frog — Activity 10.6: Let us analyse Page 199 & 20010
- .5.2 — In-text Questions Page 20110
- .5 — In-text Questions Page 20210
- Chapter exercise — Let us enhance our learning Page 203 & 204
- Projects and further exploration — Learning further Page 205
- A poem on the life cycle of a frog — Let us create Page 205