A Happy Child: NCERT Class 1 English Poem (Marigold Unit 1)

etmantra13 Jun 202011 min read

This is the very first poem in the Class 1 Marigold book, and it is a gentle way to start. Children hear a happy child talk about a little red house, a green tree and a day full of play. The lines are short and easy to say along.

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From the NCERT English book Marigold for Class 1, unit 1. NCERT’s newer Class 1 book is Mridang, but many schools still teach Marigold.

Watch: A Happy Child

Play the video three or four times. The first time, just listen. Then point at the pictures, and from the third time, say the lines along with the video. Short, repeated listening is how CALP builds a child’s English.

What your child learns

Words for feelings and actions: happy, laugh, cry, play
Colour words in a sentence: a red house, a green tree
Hearing rhyming words like sun and done
Saying a short poem aloud about yourself, using “I”

What the poem is about

A child tells us about their life. The child lives in a little red house and is happy all day. The child laughs and plays and almost never cries.

The child also has a green tree. Its shade keeps away the hot sun, and the child likes to sit under it after playing. The poem has a calm, cheerful feeling and shows simple things that make a child happy.

New words, with Hindi meanings

happy: feeling glad and full of joy (हिंदी: खुश)
little: small (हिंदी: छोटा)
laugh: the sound you make when something is funny (हिंदी: हँसना)
cry: to have tears come out when you are sad or hurt (हिंदी: रोना)
hardly: almost not; very little (हिंदी: शायद ही)
shade: a cool, dark place where the sun does not reach (हिंदी: छाया)
often: many times (हिंदी: अक्सर)

Sing and dance

Once your child knows the poem, sing it together with actions. Children who can’t sing yet can still do the moves.

Explained in Hindi

If your child finds the English hard, watch this explanation of the poem and its word meanings in Hindi, then go back to the English video.

Talk about it

Ask these aloud after reading or watching. Let your child answer in English if they can, or mix in their home language. Both help.

What colour is the child's house?
What does the child do the whole day long?
Why does the child like the green tree?
What makes you happy? Where do you like to sit after you play?

Answers for parents

The child's house is red.
The child laughs and plays the whole day long.
The tree gives shade from the hot sun, and the child sits under it after playing.
For example: Playing with my ball makes me happy. After I play, I like to sit on the steps outside my house.

Grammar corner: Rhyming words

Rhyming words end with the same sound, like sun and done. Poems often use rhyming words so they are fun to say and easy to remember. Say two words slowly and listen to the last sound.

The child sits in the shade when the fun is done.
My house is red, and so is my bed.
I sit under the tree, as happy as can be.

Practice at home

Fill in the blank: The tree keeps me safe from the hot ___.
Which word rhymes with “tree”: house, bee or play?
Make a sentence about your own house with a colour word.

Answers: 1. sun · 2. bee · 3. For example: My house is yellow.

Try this

Read the poem together and act it out. Make a roof over your head with your hands for the little house, laugh and clap for the playing, and stretch your arms wide to be the green tree. Then let your child sit under the “tree” (your arms) to rest. Ask your child to draw their own house and colour it.

Tip for parents

Before reading, ask in Hindi: “तुम्हें किस बात से खुशी मिलती है?” Let your child answer in Hindi, then say the English together: “I am happy.” Point to things at home and name them in both languages, like पेड़ – tree and घर – house, and praise every try, even if the child mixes the two.

Questions parents ask

What is the poem A Happy Child about?

It is about a cheerful child who lives in a little red house, plays all day and hardly ever cries. The child rests in the shade of a green tree after playing.

Which words rhyme in A Happy Child?

The word “I” rhymes with “cry”, and “sun” rhymes with “done”.

Which book is A Happy Child from?

It is the first poem in NCERT's older Marigold book for Class 1. The newer NCERT English books are Mridang for Class 1–2 and Santoor for Class 3–5.

Learn every Class 1 lesson with CALP

Every lesson of Mridang, NCERT’s new book, with read-along videos, new words with Hindi meanings, and listen-and-say practice with a score, made for young children with a parent nearby. ₹999 for the whole year.

See the free lessons and enrol →