How Things Work Class 4 The World Around Us Chapter 7 CBSE Notes 2025-26

This unit guides students to actively explore the world around them by observing how everyday things work and how different objects are made. Through simple, hands-on activities with common items like coins, paper boats, and spinners, students discover and record their observations, helping them build curiosity about materials and their uses.

The chapter is split into two themes: "How Things Work" and "How Things are Made," both crafted to promote inquiry through real-life examples and group tasks.

Children are encouraged to look closely at objects like books, toys, pencils, and bags, asking what helps these items function. They investigate questions like whether all objects can spin and how spinning varies depending on the object’s shape and material.

For example, when a coin is spun, students notice that it shakes as it slows down. Activities encourage making lists of spinning and non-spinning objects—coins and bangles often spin well, while erasers and stones might not.

Experiments go further by constructing spinners from cardboard and toothpicks, and students test if spinners behave differently when the toothpick is placed at the centre or the edge. They can see that a spinner with a central hole spins better and remains stable, while one with an off-centre hole wobbles and does not spin effectively.

Creating spinners of different shapes—like circles or squares—lets students find out why some objects look round when spinning even if their shape is different at rest.

• Spinners work best when balanced and their axis goes through the centre.
• Colouring spinners in patterns leads to exciting visual effects as colours blend during fast rotation.
• Many items around us demonstrate spinning: fans, tops (lattu), and potter’s wheels.

The emphasis is on trying out ideas, predicting results, and observing closely—even if students cannot always explain why an object behaves in a certain way. Teacher notes guide students to focus on thinking, problem-solving, and exploring a wide range of possibilities by changing variables like spinner shapes or colours.

Floating and sinking introduces further hands-on learning. Students gather everyday items like leaves, iron nails, bowls, bottles, and stones, predicting whether each object will float or sink before testing in water. Observation tables help students record their guesses and the actual results, as well as propose reasons for what they see.

Children notice that not all heavy objects sink and not all light objects float. For example, an empty steel bowl floats while a small stone may sink. Shape and material play big roles—an aluminium foil floats when spread out but sinks when pressed into a tight ball. Making paper boats and placing them in water lets students see how design and construction affect whether items float, flip, or sink.

• Floating depends on factors like shape, air trapped inside, and what the object is made of—not just weight.
• Changing the shape of a material (e.g., making a foil into a cup or a ball) can make the same material float or sink.
• Children should observe, record, and try different objects to deepen understanding.

Students work in groups to make boats from paper, ice-cream sticks, coconut shells, or walnut shells. They design, build, and test their boats, learning through trial and error. Exhibitions allow students to showcase their designs and discuss what made some boats stable or strong, and what challenges they faced, like tipping over or breaking easily.

A comparison table can help students list the strengths (e.g., floats well, strong, stable) and challenges (e.g., tips easily, breaks quickly) of each boat. This reflection process encourages improvement and creative thinking as students consider ways to make better boats in future attempts.

• Boats can be made from different everyday materials, and each material affects performance.
• Testing and learning from mistakes is part of the process.
• Students learn teamwork and how to share and discuss ideas.

Enquiry-based activities help students think and ask questions. For example, they may wonder why a spinner slows and stops or how to balance an object that tips to one side. Teachers encourage questions like "Why does a spinner wobble as it slows down?" or "How can I make a sinking object float?"

Students classify various household items—like wax, marbles, thermocol, coin, cork, eraser, spoon, and more—into those that float and those that sink, based on observations. This classification builds reasoning and helps link practical experiences with theoretical understanding.

1. List items and discuss their properties: lightweight thermocol floats; dense marbles sink.
2. Ask curious questions and seek out answers by experimenting and testing.
3. Classify objects to sharpen reasoning and observation skills.

While not the main focus of Chapter 7, students are introduced to the idea of making things by hand and the importance of sustainability. In later activities, they explore handmade paper, learn about recycling, and are introduced to the 5Rs of waste management—helping them understand their role in protecting the environment.

This holistic approach connects the fun of exploring how things work with the responsibility of using and reusing materials thoughtfully, setting the foundation for lifelong learning and environmental awareness.

Class 4 The World Around Us Chapter 7 Notes – How Things Work (NCERT Revision)

These Class 4 EVS Chapter 7 notes provide a clear overview of how things work and how they are made. With easy-to-understand points and activity examples, students can quickly revise key concepts before exams. Using these NCERT revision notes helps build observation, classification, and enquiry skills in a simple format.

Perfect for last-minute preparation, these notes summarise experiments on spinning, floating, sinking, and boat-making. The Class 4 The World Around Us Notes Chapter 7 are designed to boost confidence and understanding by covering the most important facts from NCERT in just a few minutes.