Family and Friends – Class 3 The World Around Us Chapter 1 Notes & NCERT PDF

Class 3The World Around UsChapter 1NCERT book: Our Wondrous World - Class 3

Notes and a simple summary of Chapter 1 of the NCERT Class 3 The World Around Us book, with the official chapter PDF, flashcards, an MCQ quiz and an AI tutor for your doubts.

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Chapter 1: Family and Friends

Introduction

Chapter 1 opens Unit 1, Our Families and Communities. We meet Bela, who lives with her two brothers, Banku Bhaiya and little Bishu, her parents, her grandparents (Dadiji and Dadaji) and their dog Shiru. Through Bela's everyday life, children learn that a family plays, sings, laughs, works and cares together, and that friends, neighbours, relatives and even animals are part of the circle of love around us.

What's in this Chapter

Playing Together: Bela and her brothers play chhupan-chhupai (hide and seek) outside, and the whole family plays peek-a-boo with baby Bishu. The family has planted a garden where relatives, friends and neighbours sit, talk, share jokes and laugh. Tired parents relax there in the evening.

Singing Together: On rainy days the family sits under a small shelter in the garden, plays antakshari and snakes and ladders, and eats hot pakodas made by Bela's mother and Dadiji. Dadiji sings rain songs. The book's Rain Song begins: "Look at the dark clouds in the sky, / The rain will come by and by" and describes paper boats in puddles, birds huddled on trees and peacocks dancing.

Laughing Together: Dadaji teaches the children the games he played as a child. Shiru the dog is "a member of our family"; Banku and Bela never hurt him and share their food with him.

Types of Families: A poem says, "Families are big, / Families are small, / Families are different, / And we love them all." A family can have a few or many members.

Helping Each Other: Dadiji oils and braids Bela's hair while humming. Bela's parents share all housework — cooking, cleaning and shopping. Banku cleans and chops vegetables; Bela helps Dadaji in the garden.

Friends like family: Munni and her mother Kusum Mausi (a close friend of Bela's mother, "like a sister") live nearby. Kusum Mausi makes sweets for festivals, and Munni makes rangoli with colours from dried flowers, leaves and flowers.

Fun with Family and Friends: On a holiday, Dadaji takes the children to the park, where they play pitthoo with friends Niku, Rinki, Rohit, Ronnie and Tara. Dadaji hits the pile of stones with a ball, everyone rests, and he buys ice cream.

Key Ideas

Family members, friends, neighbours and relatives love, care for and support us.

A family can include parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters and other elders; animals such as cows, buffaloes, dogs, parrots, cats and goats can also be part of a family.

Everyone in a family shares the work of the home.

We learn many things — songs, games, skills — from elders and neighbours.

Some relatives do not live with us; they are related to us through our mother or father.

Grandparents, small children and sick people need special care.

Activities from the Book

Fill a table of family members: name, relationship, and what you call them (example: Urmila — mother's sister — Mausi).

Tick and colour the activities you see in your family.

Collect fallen leaves and flowers to make a rangoli.

Write Bela's relationship with each family member from the picture, then draw your own family.

Fill the "Who does what work?" table: cooking, watering plants, mending, cleaning, buying from the market.

Word search: circle five words related to games (for example BALL, LUDO, BAT).

Words to Learn

Family (परिवार) — the people who live with and care for us

Relative (रिश्तेदार) — a person related to us through our parents

Neighbour (पड़ोसी) — a person who lives near us

Grandmother / Dadiji (दादी) — father's mother

Grandfather / Dadaji (दादा) — father's father

Mausi (मौसी) — mother's sister

Pet (पालतू जानवर) — an animal we care for at home

Rangoli (रंगोली) — a floor design made with colours, flowers or leaves

Share (बाँटना) — to give part of what we have to others

Care (देखभाल) — looking after someone

Tips for Parents & Teachers

Ask children to bring a family photograph and introduce each person.

Make a "who does what" chart at home and let the child choose one daily task.

Ask grandparents to teach one old game (like pitthoo) or one song.

Make a leaf-and-flower rangoli together using only fallen material.

Talk about kind ways to treat pets and street animals.

Common Mistakes

Thinking a "real" family must be big, or must be small. The book says families are different, and we love them all.

Thinking only mothers cook and clean. In Bela's home, both parents help each other in all the housework.

Forgetting that pets and relatives who live far away are also part of our family.

💡 Key Learning Points

✓A family can be big or small; families are different and we love them all.
✓Family members, friends, neighbours and relatives love, care for and support each other.
✓Everyone in a family shares the housework, like Bela's parents who help each other in all work.
✓Animals such as dogs, cows, goats and parrots can be part of a family and must never be hurt.
✓We learn songs, games and skills from elders and neighbours, and elders and the sick need special care.

👨‍🏫 Teaching Tips

→Ask children to bring a family photo before starting the chapter and let each child introduce family members.
→Sing the Rain Song from the book together and invite children to share rain songs from their own language.
→Play chhupan-chhupai or pitthoo in the playground and link it to Bela's family games.
→Build a class chart of relationship words (Mausi, Chacha, Dadiji etc.) in the children's home languages.
→Do the leaf-and-flower rangoli on the classroom floor under supervision, using only fallen leaves and flowers.
→Use the 'Who does what?' table to discuss that all family members, boys and girls, can share housework.
→Discuss kindness to animals using Shiru's example; remind children never to tease animals.

📋 Assessment Questions

Can the child name at least four members of Bela's family, including Shiru?
Can the child fill the relationship table for their own family (name, relation, what they call them)?
Can the child say two ways family members help and care for each other?
Can the child explain why pets and animals should not be hurt?
Can the child name a game or song learnt from an elder?

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Next: Chapter 2 →Going to the Mela