Nature Trail Class 4 The World Around Us Chapter 3 CBSE Notes 2025-26

Nature surrounds us with countless plants, animals, birds, and insects. By carefully observing and exploring the world around, we get an opportunity to know about the variety of living things, their unique features, and how all forms of life are linked together in an interdependent web. This unit is about exploring life around us and understanding how human habits, traditions, and cultures connect deeply with our environment.

Exploring Nature and Its Wonders Children often wonder about unusual sights in nature, such as banyan trees with roots hanging down, colourful birds diving into water, or spiders spinning webs. The diversity of plants and animals, from birds flying among branches to butterflies fluttering over flowers, inspires curiosity. This chapter highlights the excitement of exploring forests or gardens, observing living creatures, and learning about the different forms of life that coexist.

Going on a Nature Trail A nature trail helps children observe life in its natural habitat. The chapter begins with students preparing for a forest trip to Pachmarhi, Madhya Pradesh, guided by a nature scientist. It is important to follow certain safety rules, such as not feeding the animals, not bringing pets, never teasing or frightening wildlife, and not leaving behind litter. Respect for nature and all living forms is stressed at each step.

• Always be careful in new places like forests or parks.
• Never tease or disturb animals.
• Do not feed wild animals or birds.
• Do not damage trees, plants, or pick flowers unnecessarily.
• Avoid carrying polythene bags, pets, or any kind of weapon.
• Do not throw garbage or damage public utilities.

Following these rules helps protect nature, avoids harm to animals, and keeps the environment clean for everyone.

Variety of Animals in the Forest On their journey through the forest, students spot many kinds of creatures. Some live on land, like elephants, deer, monkeys, and squirrels, while others live in the sky such as sparrows, kingfishers, and hornbills. Each animal has special features – for example, an elephant’s long trunk helps it eat and drink, while a sparrow’s short strong beak is perfect for breaking seeds.

The Indian Giant Squirrel, for example, is a big, red squirrel found only in specific places like Pachmarhi. The chapter encourages students to compare it with squirrels found in their own surroundings. Such comparisons help children notice similarities and differences among animals.

Observing Near Water Bodies Near ponds or water bodies, students learn about animals that come to drink water and leave behind footprints in the mud. They are asked to guess the animals from these footprints and even try drawing them, making learning interactive.

Animals living in or around water have special adaptation features. Fish have fins for swimming, turtles possess strong shells and webbed feet, and frogs can live both on land and in water. Gharials, a kind of crocodile, have long pointed snouts designed for catching fish.

Identification and Features of Birds Students are encouraged to observe differences in the beaks and claws of birds. By picking up grains, berries, and fruit pieces with spoons or sticks, one can understand how various birds use specialized beaks for eating. For example, eagles have sharp, curved beaks and claws to catch prey, while sunbirds have long beaks to collect nectar. By seeing which tools are best for certain foods, children can match them with bird beak types.

• Eagle – Sharp, curved beak for hunting and strong claws for grabbing prey
• Sunbird – Long slender beak for drinking nectar
• Sparrow – Short, strong beak for seeds

Bird Diary and Observation To deepen learning, children are asked to keep a Bird Diary where they write about bird colours, beak shapes, food habits, and interesting facts. Observing these features enhances students' understanding of bird diversity and adaptation.

Learning Through Activities Throughout the chapter, there are engaging activities for students. For instance, they are encouraged to collect different leaves, observe and classify them by their shapes, colours, and textures. Activities like leaf rubbing reveal the pattern of veins, showing that each species has its own unique structure. These practical experiences make noticing details fun and memorable.

Tiny Insects and Their Importance Students discover different types of insects such as grasshoppers, ants, beetles, flies, and butterflies. These insects have special features like three pairs of legs, antennae, or sometimes two pairs of wings. The chapter asks students to list insects found at home and in their surroundings, encouraging careful observation of even the smallest creatures.

Web of Life: Understanding Connections A unique activity, the 'Web of Life' game, teaches how all living beings depend on one another. Each student can role-play as a plant, animal, or a natural element, passing a ball of yarn to create a physical web. Removing one link, like a missing deer or a plant, weakens or even breaks the entire web, showing how closely nature’s balance depends on each part.

Role-Play and Fun Activities Students can stage a simple play in class to demonstrate their roles as plants, animals, or visitors in a forest, underlining the importance of protecting all living things. Creative hands-on activities, like making a paper turtle from recycled paper, further strengthen the message of conservation by reusing resources.

Puzzle and Challenges The chapter includes a word puzzle to help students identify animals and plants commonly found in forests, making learning interactive and enjoyable. They are also encouraged to plan their own nature walk, identifying local plants and animals and sharing their features and uses.

Connecting Nature with Culture Life around us is not just about observing animals and plants. It is also about recognising how our daily lives, traditions, festivals, and art are linked to nature. Examples of tribal art or medicinal plants show how humans have always depended on and respected the natural world.

By exploring, observing, and participating in these activities, students learn to respect and protect each part of our environment, realising that ‘the world is one family’. The unit imparts not only scientific knowledge but also values for building a deeper relationship with nature.

Class 4 The World Around Us Chapter 3 Notes - (Unit 2: Life Around Us) Key Points

These Class 4 EVS Chapter 3 notes cover all key facts about Unit 2: Life Around Us, making revision easy and clear. Students can quickly recall unique features of plants, animals, birds, and insects through practical examples and simple tables. Each topic is broken down for effortless last-minute study before exams.

With regular activities like the bird diary, leaf observation, and web of life game, these notes help learners deeply understand nature’s connections. All important ideas from the CBSE Class 4 EVS syllabus are summarised in student-friendly language, supporting strong conceptual understanding and faster learning.