Class 6 Science · Original EZT practice
Living Creatures: Exploring their Characteristics (Class 6 Chapter 10): summary and practice
A car moves but is not alive; a seed looks lifeless but is. Chapter 10 builds the checklist that separates living from non-living, then watches life happen: a bean seed germinating under four different conditions, a plant growing and turning toward light, and the remarkable shape-shifting life cycles of the mosquito and the frog. All questions are original EZT tutor practice following the chapter's own section order.
8 original worked examples, 8 fresh self-check questions and 4 mixed questions, with explained answers. These are not copied textbook exercises, an official chapter index or a full answer key. No affiliation with NCERT is claimed.
Official sources for topic and edition context, checked 18 October 2026:
1. What sets the living apart
Movement alone is not the test - a car moves but is not living. Living beings share a fuller checklist: they need food, they respire (breathing is part of respiration), they excrete (urine is a product of excretion in animals), they respond to stimuli (anything that prompts a response is a stimulus - even plants respond: the touch-me-not folds its leaves), they grow, they reproduce (reproduction keeps the continuity of life), and eventually they die. Absence of any of these points away from living.
2. The four-pot test: what a seed really needs
The chapter's experiment plants bean seeds in four pots: A - no water, in sunlight; B - excess water (soil waterlogged), in sunlight; C - moist soil, in complete dark; D - moist soil, in sunlight. Results: seeds need air and water to germinate - A fails for want of water, B fails because waterlogging drives out air, while C and D both germinate. Conclusion: light is NOT essential for the germination of most seeds (though the seedling needs sunlight for further growth). Exceptions exist: Coleus and Petunia seeds need light; Calendula and Zinnia need darkness.
3. Growth, movement and life cycles
Plants grow and move too - shoots turn toward light, roots grow down into the soil. And many animals do not grow smoothly into their adult shape: they transform. The mosquito's life cycle runs egg -> larva -> pupa -> adult (larvae and pupae live in stagnant water and come up to inhale air). The frog's runs egg -> tadpole -> adult frog, the tadpole living in water before becoming the land-and-water adult. A plant's own cycle runs seed -> seedling -> adult plant -> flower -> fruit (with seeds again).
Choose, solve, check, then try a fresh question.
Before calculating, read the method prompt and name the condition that makes it useful. Write your own attempt. Open the steps only when you need them, and use the check to catch a wrong sign, unit or interpretation. Finish with the fresh question before reading its answer.
Break the "it moves, so it is living" argument
Choose the method: Run the full checklist, not just the movement test.
EZT practice question
"A car moves, so a car is living." Break this argument using the checklist.
Show the worked solution
- Movement is only one characteristic.
- A car does not need food, does not respire or excrete, does not respond to stimuli on its own, does not grow, and does not reproduce.
- Failing the rest of the checklist makes it non-living.
Answer: Movement alone is not enough: a car fails every other characteristic - no food, no respiration, no excretion, no response, no growth, no reproduction - so it is non-living.
Check: The argument is broken by checklist items other than movement.
Watch for this: Do not answer only 'a car is a machine'; show which characteristics it fails.
Now try it yourself
List any five characteristics of living beings.
Check your answer
Needing food, respiration, excretion, responding to stimuli, growth, reproduction - any five.
The chapter's checklist also includes eventual death.
Name stimulus-response pairs in your body
Choose the method: For each response, name the stimulus that prompted it.
EZT practice question
Name three stimuli and your body's response to each (chapter-style).
Show the worked solution
- Touching something hot - the hand pulls back.
- Bright light - pupils narrow or eyes shut.
- Loud sound - we turn or startle.
Answer: Hot object - hand pulls back; bright light - pupils narrow; loud sound - we startle. Any three stimulus-response pairs earn the marks.
Check: Each pair has a clear stimulus and a matching response.
Watch for this: Do not list two stimuli with no responses, or responses with no stimuli; pair them.
Now try it yourself
What is a stimulus?
Check your answer
Anything that prompts a response in a living being.
The chapter defines a stimulus by the response it prompts.
Show that plants respond to stimuli
Choose the method: Use the chapter's own plant example and name both the stimulus and the response.
EZT practice question
Show that plants respond to stimuli with one example from the chapter.
Show the worked solution
- The touch-me-not (mimosa, chhui-mui) folds its leaves when touched.
- Touch is the stimulus; folding is the response.
Answer: The touch-me-not folds its leaves when touched - touch is the stimulus and folding is the response, so plants do respond to stimuli.
Check: Both halves - stimulus and response - are named.
Watch for this: Do not claim plants do not respond because they do not move from place to place; folding leaves is a response.
Now try it yourself
Why is reproduction necessary?
Check your answer
For the continuity of life.
Reproduction keeps life going from one generation to the next.
Predict the outcomes in pots A and B
Choose the method: Check each pot against the two essential conditions: air and water.
EZT practice question
Predict and explain the outcome in pots A (no water, sunlight) and B (excess water, sunlight).
Show the worked solution
- A: no germination - without water the seed cannot sprout.
- B: no germination - excess water fills the air spaces, and without air the seed cannot respire and dies.
Answer: Neither germinates: A fails for want of water, and B fails because waterlogging drives out the air that germination needs.
Check: Each failure is traced to the missing condition - water in A, air in B.
Watch for this: Do not say B fails from 'too much water' alone; the real cause is the loss of air.
Now try it yourself
Name the two essential conditions for germination shown by the four-pot experiment.
Check your answer
Air and water.
Seeds germinated only when both air and water were present (pots C and D).
Interpret germination in complete darkness
Choose the method: Ask what C shares with D and what it lacks - then what the result rules out.
EZT practice question
Pot C germinated even in complete darkness. What does that prove?
Show the worked solution
- Pot C had air and water but no light, and still germinated.
- So light is not essential for germination itself.
- Air and water are the essential conditions; the dark-grown seedling will still need sunlight to grow further.
Answer: That light is not essential for germination - air and water are. (The seedling still needs sunlight for further growth.)
Check: The conclusion separates germination from later growth.
Watch for this: Do not conclude plants need no light at all; the seedling needs sunlight after germination.
Now try it yourself
Which pot is the ideal control condition?
Check your answer
D - moist soil in sunlight.
Pot D has both essential conditions plus normal light, so the others are compared against it.
Explain why covered Petunia seeds fail
Choose the method: Check whether the plant is one of the chapter's exceptions before blaming the conditions.
EZT practice question
A gardener covers Petunia seeds deep in soil and they fail to sprout, though watered and aired. What went wrong?
Show the worked solution
- Petunia (like Coleus) is an exception - its seeds need light to germinate.
- Covering them deep in soil blocks the light and inhibits sprouting.
Answer: Petunia seeds need light to germinate; burying them deep kept them dark, so they did not sprout.
Check: The answer uses the exception rule, not the general air-and-water rule.
Watch for this: Do not blame water or air here; the gardener supplied both - light was missing.
Now try it yourself
Which seeds need darkness to germinate?
Check your answer
Calendula and Zinnia.
They are the chapter's darkness-needing exceptions, opposite of Coleus and Petunia.
Order the mosquito life cycle
Choose the method: Fix the two water-living middle stages between egg and adult.
EZT practice question
Order the mosquito life cycle: adult, larva, egg, pupa.
Show the worked solution
- Egg comes first, adult last.
- Larva hatches from the egg; pupa follows the larva.
- Egg -> larva -> pupa -> adult.
Answer: Egg -> larva -> pupa -> adult. The larva and pupa stages live in stagnant water and come up to inhale air.
Check: The order places both water stages between egg and adult.
Watch for this: Do not swap larva and pupa; the larva hatches first, then becomes a pupa.
Now try it yourself
Name the two mosquito stages found in stagnant water.
Check your answer
Larva and pupa.
Both live in stagnant water and come to the surface to inhale air.
Contrast the frog's life cycle with a dog's
Choose the method: Compare how each young one looks and lives compared with its adult.
EZT practice question
How is a frog's life cycle different from a dog's?
Show the worked solution
- A dog is born looking like a small adult and simply grows.
- A frog hatches as a tadpole - a water-living stage that looks and lives nothing like the adult.
- The tadpole then transforms into the land-and-water frog.
Answer: A dog simply grows from a small adult-like pup; a frog passes through a tadpole stage - living in water and shaped nothing like the adult - before transforming.
Check: The contrast rests on the transforming middle stage.
Watch for this: Do not say only that frogs lay eggs; many animals do - the key difference is the tadpole transformation.
Now try it yourself
Put the plant cycle in order: flower, seed, fruit, seedling, adult plant.
Check your answer
Seed -> seedling -> adult plant -> flower -> fruit.
The fruit carries the seeds that start the cycle again.
Try a mixed set
Choose a method or explanation before opening each answer.
1. Is movement alone proof that something is living?
Show answer and reason
No - a car moves but is non-living.
Living beings must meet the full checklist of characteristics.
2. Which two conditions do seeds need to germinate?
Show answer and reason
Air and water.
The four-pot experiment shows light is not essential for most seeds.
3. Why do waterlogged seeds fail to germinate?
Show answer and reason
Excess water drives out the air in the soil.
Seeds need air for germination - they effectively suffocate.
4. What is the order of the frog's life cycle?
Show answer and reason
Egg -> tadpole -> adult frog.
The tadpole lives in water before transforming into the adult.
Try it yourself
Work these on paper before checking any notes. Answers are deliberately not shown here.
- Give one reason a seed is called living even though it looks lifeless.
- Why does the touch-me-not's leaf-folding count as a sign of life?
- Compare the mosquito and frog life cycles - name one similarity and one difference.
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Questions about this practice page
- What are the main characteristics of living beings?
- They need food, respire, excrete, respond to stimuli, grow, reproduce - and eventually die. No single characteristic (like movement) is enough on its own.
- Do seeds need sunlight to germinate?
- Most do not - the bean-seed experiment shows air and water are the essentials, and dark-kept moist seeds germinate. Sunlight matters after germination, for the seedling's growth. (A few plants, like Coleus and Petunia, are exceptions.)
- Why do waterlogged seeds fail to germinate?
- Excess water drives out the air in the soil, and seeds need air for germination - they effectively suffocate.
- What are the stages of a mosquito's life cycle?
- Egg, larva, pupa, adult - larvae and pupae live in stagnant water.
- Are these the NCERT exercise questions for Living Creatures?
- No. EZT pages are original practice written by our tutors, aligned to the chapter's syllabus - use them to prepare for the textbook exercises, not as a substitute for your book.