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Living Creatures: Exploring their Characteristics – Class 6 Science Chapter 10 Notes & NCERT PDF

Class 6ScienceChapter 10NCERT book: Curiosity - Science Class 6

Notes and a simple summary of Chapter 10 of the NCERT Class 6 Science book, with the official chapter PDF, flashcards, an MCQ quiz and an AI tutor for your doubts.

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Chapter 10: Living Creatures: Exploring their Characteristics

Introduction

On a morning walk, Avadhi tries to pick up a shell. Her mother stops her — the shell may be the home and body part of a living snail. Avadhi and her brother Aayush wonder how something that is not even moving can be alive. In school, their teacher starts a discussion: what makes something living or non-living?

Key Concepts

10.1 What Sets the Living Apart from the Non-living?

Comparing a pencil, a book, a pigeon, a car and a plant (Activity 10.1), we find that no single feature is enough. A car moves but does not grow, eat or reproduce. Living beings share all of these characteristics:

  • Movement – Animals move from place to place. Plants do not, but they still show movement: flowers open, Drosera (an insectivorous plant with saucer-shaped leaves and sticky hairs) traps insects, and climbers wind around supports.
  • Growth – You cannot wear the dress you wore four years ago because your body has grown.
  • Nutrition – Living beings need food to grow and develop.
  • Respiration – Breathing is part of respiration. Breaths per minute increase after walking, running or dancing. Plants take in and give out air through tiny pores called stomata on leaves.
  • Excretion – Removal of waste products: sweat (water + salts) and urine in animals. Plants excrete excess water and minerals as droplets on leaves (e.g., grass, roses).
  • Response to stimuli – A stimulus is anything that prompts a response (stepping on a thorn, touching a hot cup). Touch-me-not (chhui-mui/lajjalu) folds its leaves when touched; amla leaves fold after sunset ("sleeping leaves").
  • Reproduction – Producing new ones of one's own kind; necessary for the continuity of life.
  • Death – When a living being can no longer show these characteristics despite having food, air and water, it is dead.
    • Living beings move, need food, grow, respire, excrete, respond to stimuli, reproduce and eventually die. Absence of these features indicates a non-living thing.

    10.2 Essential Conditions for Germination of a Seed

    Activity 10.2 – Four pots with four bean seeds each, observed for 7–10 days:

  • Pot A – sunlight, no water → no germination (no water).
  • Pot B – sunlight, excess water → no germination (water fills the soil spaces, so no air).
  • Pot C – moist soil, dark → germinates.
  • Pot D – moist soil, sunlight → germinates.
    • When a seed turns into a sprout, it has germinated. Bean seeds need the right amount of water and air; light is not essential for germination.
  • Water softens the seed coat and helps the tiny embryo grow.
  • Air comes from spaces between soil particles, which also let roots grow easily.
  • After germination, sunlight is needed for the seedling's further growth.
  • Some seeds (Coleus, Petunia) need light to germinate; others (Calendula, Zinnia) need darkness.

    • 10.3 Growth and Movement in Plants

    Activity 10.3 – Seedlings tied to blotting paper on glass plates in beakers A, B, C:

  • Upright (A): root grows down, shoot grows up.
  • Inverted (B): the root bends and grows downwards; the shoot bends and grows upwards.
  • Light from one direction (C, box with a hole): the shoot grows towards the light; the root still grows down.
    • Shoots grow upward and towards sunlight; roots grow downward.

    Know a scientist: Jagadish Chandra Bose (1858–1937) built the crescograph to measure plant growth and show that plants sense and respond to light, heat, electricity and gravity.

    10.4 Life Cycle of a Plant (Bean)

    Stage I seed → Stage II germination → Stage III leaves → Stage IV flowers → Stage V fruit (pod with seeds) → the plant dries and dies; the seeds start the next generation.

    The entire journey from seed to plant to the next generation of seeds is the life cycle of a plant.

    10.5 Life Cycle of Animals

    Mosquito – four stages: egg → larva → pupa → adult. Eggs are laid on or near stagnant water (coolers, pots, open containers). Larvae and pupae keep coming to the surface to breathe air. Kerosene spread on water cuts off their air supply, so they die. Adults live about 10–15 days. Female mosquitoes spread malaria, dengue and chikungunya. The silk moth also has egg–larva–pupa–adult stages; the larva's thread gives us silk (KVIC centres).

    Frog – a jelly-like cluster of eggs called spawn floats near the pond's edge.

  • Stage IA spawn (Day 1) → IB embryo (Day 3–4)
  • Stage IIA tadpole with tail (Day 7–10) → IIB tadpole with legs (8–10 weeks)
  • Stage III froglet (12 weeks) → Stage IV adult frog (14 weeks)

    • The tail helps tadpoles swim; froglets start spending time on land, lose the tail and develop strong legs for jumping. Such big changes in body shape and even habitat occur in mosquitoes and frogs.

    Activities in the Chapter

  • 10.1 Let us record: classify classroom objects as living/non-living, then correct your guesses.
  • 10.2 Let us experiment: four-pot seed germination test (above).
  • 10.3 Let us design: direction of root and shoot growth.
  • 10.4 Let us explore: grow a bean plant for three months and sketch every change.
  • 10.5 Let us analyse: Avadhi's design — separate larvae and pupae into two containers and watch which changes into the other to find the sequence.
  • 10.6 Let us analyse: observe frog stages at a pond in the rainy season (from a distance, with safety).

    • Key Terms

  • Stimulus / stimuli (उद्दीपन)
  • Respiration (श्वसन) and Breathing (साँस लेना)
  • Stomata (रंध्र)
  • Excretion (उत्सर्जन)
  • Reproduction (प्रजनन)
  • Germination (अंकुरण)
  • Seed coat (बीज आवरण) and Embryo (भ्रूण)
  • Life cycle (जीवन चक्र)
  • Larva (लार्वा / डिंभक) and Pupa (प्यूपा / कोशित)
  • Spawn (अंडों का गुच्छा)
  • Tadpole (टैडपोल / बेंगची) and Froglet (छोटा मेंढक)
  • Insectivorous plant (कीटभक्षी पौधा)

    • Real-life Connections

  • Stored grains and pulses are kept dry so they do not germinate or spoil.
  • Removing stagnant water from coolers and pots breaks the mosquito life cycle and prevents dengue and malaria.
  • Silk comes from the silk moth's pupal thread.

    • Common Misconceptions

  • "Anything that moves is alive." — Cars move but do not grow, eat or reproduce.
  • "Plants do not move, so they are less alive." — Plants show movements such as flowers opening, leaf folding and growing towards light.
  • "Seeds need sunlight to germinate." — Bean seeds germinated in the dark pot too; light is needed later for growth.
  • "More water is always better for seeds." — Excess water removes air from the soil and stops germination.
  • "A wooden log is living because it comes from a tree." — It no longer grows, respires or reproduces, so it is non-living.

    • Keep the Curiosity Alive (Exercise hints)

  • A thing that grows but does not respire, or respires but does not grow, is not possible for living beings — living beings do both.
  • A pot kept lying along the ground: the shoot will bend upward and the root downward.
  • To test temperature's effect on germination, keep identical pots with the same water and air at different temperatures — change only one condition.
  • Compare mosquito and frog life cycles: both change body shape and live in water in early stages; mosquitoes have a pupa stage, frogs have tadpole and froglet stages.

    • 💡 Key Learning Points

    • ✓Living beings show all of these together: movement, nutrition, growth, respiration, excretion, response to stimuli, reproduction and death.
    • ✓Plants also move (Drosera, touch-me-not, amla, climbers), respire through stomata and excrete water droplets.
    • ✓Bean seeds need the right amount of water and air to germinate; light is not essential for germination but is needed for later growth.
    • ✓Shoots grow upwards and towards light while roots grow downwards, whatever the position of the plant.
    • ✓Plants and animals have life cycles; mosquitoes (egg–larva–pupa–adult) and frogs (spawn–tadpole–froglet–adult) change shape and sometimes habitat.

    👨‍🏫 Teaching Tips

    • →Start with the snail-shell story and a 'living or non-living?' table of classroom objects; revisit the guesses at the end of the lesson.
    • →Have students count breaths per minute after walking, running and dancing and plot the results.
    • →Set up the four-pot germination experiment on day one so observations are ready by the end of the chapter.
    • →Grow a touch-me-not plant in class and let students test its response to touch.
    • →Run the inverted seedling and 'light box' experiment and have students predict before observing.
    • →Conduct a school stagnant-water safety audit with hand lenses and discuss how to break the mosquito life cycle.
    • →Use sequencing cards for frog and mosquito stages and ask students to justify their order.

    📋 Assessment Questions

    1. Can the student explain why a car is non-living although it moves?
    2. Can the student predict and explain germination results for pots A, B, C and D?
    3. Can the student draw the expected root and shoot direction for an inverted or sideways plant?
    4. Can the student correctly sequence and name the stages of mosquito and frog life cycles?
    5. Can the student design a fair test to check the effect of temperature on germination?

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    Keep learning

    All chapters in Curiosity - Science Class 6

    1. 1. The Wonderful World of Science
    2. 2. Diversity in the Living World
    3. 3. Mindful Eating: A Path to a Healthy Body
    4. 4. Exploring Magnets
    5. 5. Measurement of Length and Motion
    6. 6. Materials Around Us
    7. 7. Temperature and its Measurement
    8. 8. A Journey through States of Water
    9. 9. Methods of Separation in Everyday Life
    10. 10. Living Creatures: Exploring their Characteristics
    11. 11. Nature’s Treasures
    12. 12. Beyond Earth