Unit 2 · Life Around Us · NCERT Class 4 Our Wondrous World

Exploring Our Neighbourhood

Step outside your home and a whole neighbourhood waits — shops, a clinic, a park, a post office and busy roads. Tap each idea to explore the places near you, learn to find your way with directions and maps, and travel about safely.

🗺️ 3 topics⏱ ~12 min📝 10-question quiz

Play with it

Six things in our neighbourhood

A neighbourhood is the area around your home. Tap each term to see the places and ideas that help you move around it.

Explore · Neighbourhoodtap a term

Learn

The three big ideas

Shops sell things we need — a vegetable shop, a bakery, a stationery shop. We give money and get goods.
Services help us in other ways — a clinic treats us, a school teaches us, a post office sends letters, a fire station keeps us safe.
A good neighbourhood has a mix of both so people can get what they need close to home.

Everyday example. Your pencil has broken just before school. Which place near home would help?

A stationery shop sells pencils and pens, so you would go there to buy a new one.

The four main directions are North, South, East and West. Since the Sun rises in the East, you can find directions outdoors.
Landmarks like a big tree, a temple or a tall building help us remember and describe a route.
A map shows a place from above with simple signs, so we can plan where to go.

Common mix-up: Mix-up: on most maps, North is at the top, but that does not mean North is always “up” in the real world — it is the direction towards which the Sun never sets or rises, fixed by the Sun’s path.

We use different transport for different trips — we walk to a nearby park but take a bus or train for a far place.
On the road we must be safe: cross at the zebra crossing, look both ways, and follow the traffic light (red = stop, green = go).
Wearing a helmet on a two-wheeler and a seatbelt in a car keeps us safe.

Everyday example. You need to cross a busy road to reach the park. What is the safe way?

Use the zebra crossing, wait for the green signal, look right and left, and then cross carefully.

Where you'll see it

Finding your way around

Drawing a map to school

Mark your home, the turns, a big landmark and the school. Anyone could follow your map to reach the gate.

Asking for directions

If you are lost, naming a nearby landmark like “the blue water tank” helps people guide you home.

Crossing the road

Stop at the kerb, look both ways and use the zebra crossing — simple steps that keep you safe every day.