Chapter 10 — Living Creatures: Exploring their Characteristics

Chapter 10 'Living Creatures: Exploring their Characteristics' explains what makes living beings different from non-living things. It covers the eight characteristics of living beings — movement, nutrition, growth, respiration, excretion, response to stimuli, reproduction, and death — and explores the life cycles of plants (bean), insects (mosquito), and amphibians (frog).

All living beings show: (1) movement, (2) nutrition (need food), (3) growth, (4) respiration (breathing), (5) excretion (removal of waste), (6) response to stimuli, (7) reproduction, and (8) death. Absence of any one of these indicates a non-living thing.

No, sunlight is NOT essential for germination in most seeds. Bean seeds germinate even in the dark (as in Pot C of Activity 10.2). However, sunlight is required for further growth of the seedling after germination. Exceptions: Coleus and Petunia need light to germinate; Calendula and Zinnia need darkness.

Water and air are essential for seed germination. Water softens the seed coat and helps the embryo develop. Air (available in spaces between soil particles) is also required. Too much water fills the air spaces and prevents germination, as seen in Pot B of Activity 10.2.

Shoots always grow upward and toward sunlight. Roots always grow downward. Even when a plant is inverted, both the root and shoot bend to grow in their correct directions, as shown in Activity 10.3 (Beaker B).

A mosquito passes through four stages: egg (Stage I) → larva (Stage II) → pupa (Stage III) → adult (Stage IV). Larvae and pupae live in water and must come to the surface for air. The adult mosquito survives for 10 to 15 days.

The frog life cycle has four main stages: Stage I (spawn/eggs on Day 1, then embryo by Day 3–4), Stage II (tadpole with tail on Day 7–10, then tadpole with legs at 8–10 weeks), Stage III (froglet at 12 weeks), and Stage IV (adult frog at 14 weeks). Tadpoles are fully aquatic; adult frogs live both in water and on land.

A stimulus is any thing or event that prompts a living being to respond. Yes, plants respond to stimuli. The touch-me-not (chhui-mui) plant folds its leaves when touched. Leaves of the amla (Indian gooseberry) tree fold after sunset in response to the absence of light.

Jagadish Chandra Bose (1858–1937) was an Indian scientist who built a machine called the crescograph to record how plants respond to stimuli like light, heat, electricity, and gravity. He showed that plants can sense and respond to stimuli and measured how fast plants grow.

Mosquito larvae and pupae live in water but must come to the surface to breathe air. Kerosene forms a thin layer on the water surface that separates water from air, preventing larvae and pupae from inhaling air. As a result, they die. This is why we should not allow water to stagnate in our surroundings.

Excretion is the removal of waste products from the body. In animals, sweat (water + salts) and urine are products of excretion. Plants excrete excess water and minerals in the form of small droplets on leaves — grasses and roses are examples mentioned in the chapter.

Yes. The official NCERT Class 6 Science Curiosity textbook PDF is freely available at ncert.nic.in with no registration required. You can also access chapter-wise PDFs, summaries, and practice questions on cbseprepmaster.com at no cost.