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

Growing up with Nature

Everything that lives grows and changes — a tiny seed becomes a tree, a wriggly tadpole becomes a frog, and the seasons turn round and round. Tap each idea to watch how plants, animals and you grow up with nature.

🌱 3 topics⏱ ~12 min📝 9-question quiz

Play with it

Six ways living things grow

Living things do not stay the same — they grow and change. Tap each term to see how growth happens in nature.

Explore · Growing uptap a term

Learn

The three big ideas

A seed holds a tiny plant and some stored food inside its hard coat.
When a seed gets water, warmth and air, it germinates — a root grows down and a shoot grows up towards the light.
To keep growing, a plant needs water, sunlight, air and soil. Take one away and it will not grow well.

Everyday example. You put a bean seed on wet cotton in a warm spot. After a few days, what do you see?

A little root and shoot appear — the seed has germinated. Water and warmth made it sprout.

Animals have young ones that look small and grow bigger — a calf grows into a cow, a puppy into a dog.
Some animals change a lot as they grow. A caterpillar turns into a butterfly, and a tadpole turns into a frog.
This journey from young to adult, and back to having babies, is a life cycle that repeats.

Common mix-up: Mix-up: a caterpillar and a butterfly are the same creature at different stages — not two different animals.

The seasons — hot summer, the rainy season, and cool winter — bring changes to nature.
In some seasons trees shed leaves or burst into flowers, and farmers sow or harvest different crops.
We change too: we wear light clothes in summer and warm clothes in winter. Living things grow up with the seasons.

Everyday example. It is the cold winter month. Why do we wear sweaters and caps?

Warm clothes trap heat and keep our bodies cosy. We change our clothes to suit the season.

Where you'll see it

Growth you can watch

Planting a seed at home

Put a seed in damp soil, water it and keep it in light. In a few days a green shoot appears — growth you grew yourself.

From tadpole to frog

After the rains, a pond fills with tadpoles. Over weeks they grow legs and become frogs — a life cycle in action.

Clothes for the season

Cotton in summer, woollens in winter, an umbrella in the rains — we change with the seasons just as nature does.