NCERT Solutions for Class 3 The World Around Us Chapter 7 Water – A Precious Gift (PDF) – 2027

The answer is rain.

1. Rain falls down from the sky to the ground.
2. The raindrops never fly back up.

Do this:

1. Look at the sky every morning for seven days.
2. Guess: will it rain today, yes or no?
3. In the evening, write if it really rained.

My guess was right on 5 days and wrong on 2 days.

Yes, there are clues. Ask an elder at home how they guess. Write what they say.

Sample answer (clues my grandmother told me):

1. Dark grey clouds cover the sky.
2. The sky becomes dark in the daytime.
3. A cool wind starts to blow.
4. We hear thunder.

Look at the sky and feel the air. Write two clues you notice.

Sample answer: I think it will rain today because …

1. the sky is full of dark grey clouds.
2. a cool wind is blowing.

On a dry day, look at the sky again. Write two clues.

Sample answer: I think it will not rain today because …

1. the sky is clear and blue.
2. the sun is shining brightly.

1. Heavy rain: lots of water falls fast. The ground gets wet very quickly.
2. Light rain: only a little water falls. You can walk in it for a short time.

Sample answer: It was a heavy rain. In a few minutes our courtyard was full of water.

Put your hand out and let a few drops fall on it. Look at the wet spots.

Sample answer: The raindrops were big. Each drop made a big wet spot on my hand.

Watch the drops falling against a dark wall or a tree.

Sample answer: The drops came down fast. They made a loud sound on the tin roof.

In very heavy rain, look far away, at a road or a field.

Sample answer: Yes. The rain was so heavy that I could not see drops. I saw only long lines of water. Far away, it looked like a white sheet.

Look at the lines of rain. Are they straight up and down, or tilted?

Sample answer: The rain was slanting. Then it changed its direction. I think the wind was pushing it.

The water in my bowl looked clean. Water that ran off our roof into a bucket looked dirty. It had dust and bits of leaves.

Look at the sky again and use your clues.

Sample answer: Yes, I think it will rain again tomorrow. The sky is still full of dark clouds, and a cool wind is blowing.

Do this:

1. First make your guess.
2. Then ask a friend or a relative who lives in another area.
3. Check if your guess was right.

Sample answer: I guessed it rained everywhere. But my uncle said it did not rain in his village. So it rained only in some places.

Ask your family and teacher for rain songs. You can also make up your own.

Sample answer (a song I made up):

Pitter-patter, drops of rain,
Tapping on my window pane.
Fill the pond and fill the well,
Rain, rain, come again!

Yes, the rain made me happy. The hot days were over. I floated paper boats.

But it may not make everyone happy.

1. A farmer is happy. The fields get water.
2. A person selling things on the road may be sad.
3. Someone whose roof leaks may be worried.

The rainwater went to many places.

1. Some soaked into the soil.
2. Some collected in puddles.
3. Some flowed away into streams, and then into rivers.

1. On the leafy bush (1): water drips off the leaves. It falls on the soil and soaks in.
2. On the tree trunk (2): water runs down the bark to the ground.
3. On the hard surface (3): water cannot sink in. It collects in puddles or flows away.

All three happen. It depends on where the rain falls.

1. On soil, the water gets absorbed (soaked in).
2. In low places, it collects in puddles.
3. On slopes and hard ground, it flows away.

Yes, it can join a stream or a river. Water flowing in a stream later joins rivers.

1. Water on hard surfaces dries up in the sun. The puddles disappear.
2. Water in the soil is stored under the ground. Our wells get water from here.
3. Some water goes into ponds, lakes, seas and oceans.

Sample guess: The puddle near our gate was gone by evening.

There is a pond near my village. People call it the Bada Talab. It fills up in the rainy season. Buffaloes drink water there. I saw a heron, some ducks and a big peepal tree near it.

Ask your teacher or look in your language books for a river poem. Learn it and sing it.

Sample answer (a short poem):

Little river, running free,
Down the hill and to the sea.
Fish and frogs and birds so bright,
Drink from you from morn till night.

1. We care for it by not wasting it and by keeping it clean.
2. We store it in tanks, buckets, pots and bottles.
3. We use it for drinking, cooking, bathing, cleaning and watering plants.

The water in the pipes comes from the tank on the roof.

Water gets into the tank through the pipe at its top (see the arrow).

1. This pipe may bring water from a bigger tank some distance away.
2. Or a pump may send water up from a well or a borewell.

Ask at home. Then follow the pipe from your tap if you can.

Sample answer: Yes, we get water from a tap. My father says the water comes from a tank on our terrace.

1. Yes. Our water is stored in a tank on the terrace.
2. A pump sends water up to it.
3. A bigger pipe brings water to our building. It comes from a big water tank near the market.

Water is drawn from a well with a pulley (rope and bucket), a hand pump or an electric pump.

The water in the well comes from underground water. Rainwater soaks into the soil. Some of it is stored under the ground, between the rocks and the soil.

Ask at home who brings the water and how.

Sample answer: In my grandparents’ village, my uncle brings water from the well. He carries two pots. They hang from a pole on his shoulder. I said a big “thank you” to him!

Ask your elders, or ask the tanker driver politely.

Sample answer: Yes, a tanker comes to our lane twice a week. The driver said he fills it from a borewell outside the city. So our water comes from underground water.

Think of people you know, or ask your elders.

Sample answer: Yes. My friend Meena’s family has no tap at home. Her mother walks to the hand pump every morning. She waits in a line to fill her pots.

Think of one whole day, from morning to night.

Do this:

1. Fill one mug. Brush your teeth using only that mug. Did you need more?
2. At bath time, count the mugs or buckets you use.

Sample answer: I need 1 mug of water to brush my teeth. For my bath I use 1 bucket of water.

Yes. Once no water came in our taps for a whole day. We used the water we had filled in buckets the night before. My mother used very little for cooking. We did not wash clothes that day.

They used the water they had stored.

1. The society pipeline burst. So no water came in the taps.
2. But the family had stored two buckets of water.
3. So they still had water to use that day.

My grandmother got water from the village well. She pulled it up with a rope and a bucket. She says they used much less water than we do. They bathed with one bucket of water. They washed clothes at the pond.

My grandparents stored water in a big clay pot and a brass pot. The clay pot kept the drinking water cool.

Dadi’s Brass Pot
When Dadi was small, her village had no taps. Every morning she walked to the well with her mother. Dadi carried water home in a small brass pot. They kept it in a big clay pot. Dadi says, “Every drop was precious.”

In my home, water is kept in a clay pot, a steel pot, two plastic bottles, a copper jug and two plastic buckets.

My grandfather says they stored water in a big clay pot, a brass pot and a copper vessel. They kept a surahi for cool drinking water in summer.

Yes, many were different.

1. Then: clay, brass and copper vessels.
2. Now: many plastic and steel vessels too.

Some are the same. Many homes still keep a clay pot.

Yes. Each vessel has its own name, and names change from language to language.

Sample answer: My grandmother calls the clay pot a matka or ghada. The long-necked clay pot is a surahi. The small brass pot is a lota.

Do this:

1. Pick one vessel you like.
2. Draw its shape large on the sheet.
3. Draw any pattern on it and colour it.
4. Write its name in your language below.

Do this:

1. Stick all the drawings on a wall or a board.
2. Put vessels of the same material together — clay, metal, plastic.
3. Walk around slowly. Look at each drawing and read its name.

Count each kind only once. Two clay pots count as one kind.

So 6 different kinds of vessels were drawn.

Yes. Look closely at the drawings and the real vessels.

Sample answer: I found these patterns:

1. straight lines going round the pot;
2. zigzag lines;
3. dots in a row;
4. diamond shapes on the baskets.

After we use water, it becomes dirty.

1. We cannot use dirty water for drinking or cooking.
2. But we can reuse it — to water our plants, or to flush toilets.

Yes. Everyone must get clean drinking water, anywhere, anytime.

1. Water is essential for our survival. No one can live without it.
2. Dirty water is not safe to drink.
3. In some places, people walk long distances just to get water.

Today the postman came in the hot afternoon. I gave him a glass of cool water from our clay pot. He smiled and said thank you.

Steps to make a birdbath:

1. Take a shallow, wide bowl, less than 10 cm deep.
2. Put some big stones in it for birds to sit on.
3. Add small pebbles at the sides to make them sloping.
4. Pour in fresh water. Keep it in your yard, balcony or terrace.

How to look after your birdbath:

1. Change the water often, so it stays fresh.
2. Scrub the birdbath clean twice a week.
3. Keep that scrubber only for the garden. Never use it for kitchen utensils.

1. how the rain fell;
2. how the rainwater looked;
3. where the water went.

Sample answer: Last week it rained heavily. The big drops fell fast. The wind made the rain slant. The water in my clean bowl looked clean. The soil soaked up water. The road had puddles. Later the sun dried them up.

There is an old well near our school. Its water is not used for drinking now, because people threw rubbish into it. My grandfather says the whole lane drank water from this well in the past.

Birds and insects that came: a sparrow, a pigeon and a bee.

Water is wasted by: leaving the tap running while brushing; a leaking tap or pipe; letting the tank overflow.

Water is polluted by: too much soap or other chemicals; rubbish thrown into a pond, river or well.

Three solutions:

1. Close the tap while brushing. Use a mug.
2. Get leaking taps mended quickly.
3. Water plants with used water.