Ice-cream Man: NCERT Class 5 English Poem (Marigold Unit 1)

etmantra13 Jun 20209 min read

On a hot summer day, who is more welcome than the ice-cream man? This cheerful poem paints a picture of his little cart and the happy children around it. It is full of colours and tastes that every child knows and loves.

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From the NCERT English book Marigold for Class 5, unit 1. NCERT’s newer Class 5 book is Santoor, but many schools still teach Marigold.

Watch: Ice-cream Man

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

Describing words for taste and feel: creamy, cooling, frosty
Comparing with “as … as”: as thick as honey bees
Picture words: seeing a poem as a scene
Reading a poem aloud with rhythm

What the poem is about

The poem is set in a city in summer, when the bricks are burning with heat. The ice-cream man rolls his little cart slowly down the street. Under his round umbrella, he fills cones with cool brown and white ice cream, which is a joyful sight.

He sells vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, and cold fizzy drinks in green, orange, white and pink. The poet says his cart could be a flower bed of roses and sweet peas, because the children crowd round it as thickly as honey bees round flowers. The feeling of the poem is happy and fresh, like a cool treat on a hot day.

New words, with Hindi meanings

creamy: soft and smooth, like cream (हिंदी: मलाईदार)
ablaze: burning or very hot (हिंदी: तपता हुआ)
trundling: moving slowly on wheels (हिंदी: धीरे-धीरे लुढ़कता)
beneath: under (हिंदी: नीचे)
mounds: small heaps or piles (हिंदी: ढेर)
frosty: very cold (हिंदी: बर्फ़ीला)
fizz: the bubbles in a drink like soda (हिंदी: बुलबुले)
cluster: gather close together in a group (हिंदी: झुंड बनाना)

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.

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.

When and where does the ice-cream man come?
Which flavours and drinks does he sell?
Why does the poet compare the children to honey bees?
What is your favourite cool treat on a hot day, and why?

Answers for parents

He comes in summer, in the city, rolling his little cart down the street.
He sells vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ice cream, and cold fizzy drinks in green, orange, white and pink.
Because the children crowd closely round his cart, just as honey bees crowd round flowers.
For example: My favourite is a mango kulfi, because it is cold, sweet and tastes of summer.

Grammar corner: Comparing with “as … as”

We use “as … as” to say two things are alike in some way. A describing word goes in the middle, like “as cold as ice”. Poets use it to paint a clear picture.

The ice cream was as cold as snow.
The street was as hot as an oven in May.
The children were as busy as ants around the cart.

Practice at home

Fill in the blank: The children gathered as thick as honey ___.
Match the word to its meaning: beneath, mounds, frosty (very cold / under / heaps).
Make your own “as … as” sentence about summer.

Answers: 1. bees · 2. beneath → under; mounds → heaps; frosty → very cold · 3. For example: The afternoon sun was as bright as a torch.

Try this

Ask your child to draw the ice-cream man's cart with its round umbrella, the colourful drinks and the children crowding round. Then they can write a short advertisement for the cart in three or four lines, using at least two words from the poem.

Tip for parents

Ask in Hindi: “गर्मी में तुम्हें कौन-सी ठंडी चीज़ सबसे अच्छी लगती है?” Let your child describe it in Hindi, then pick English words from the poem together, like creamy and frosty. Mixing languages is fine; praise each new word they try.

Questions parents ask

What is the poem Ice-cream Man about?

It describes the ice-cream man rolling his cart down a hot city street in summer, selling ice cream and cold drinks while children crowd round him.

Why does the poet compare the cart to a flower bed?

Because the children gather round the colourful cart as thickly as honey bees gather round flowers.

Which book is Ice-cream Man from?

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

Learn every Class 5 chapter with CALP

Every chapter of Santoor, NCERT’s new book, with notes in English and Hindi, say-it-aloud practice with a score, grammar, speaking and writing practice. ₹1,299 for the whole year.

See the free lessons and enrol →