The Balloon Man: NCERT Class 3 English Poem (Marigold Unit 5)

etmantra14 Jan 20217 min read

The Balloon Man paints a bright picture of a market day and a man holding a lovely bunch of balloons. Children enjoy imagining the colours and the balloons tugging in the wind. The poem also invites them to dream about what might happen next.

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From the NCERT English book Marigold for Class 3, unit 5. NCERT’s newer Class 3 book is Santoor, but many schools still teach Marigold.

Watch: The Balloon 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

Colour words: red, purple, blue, green
Opposites: big and small, high and low, near and far
Words about a market: market, square, bunch
Imagining and talking about 'what might happen'

What the poem is about

The poem is about a balloon man who always comes on market days. He stands in the market square with his bunch of balloons and never seems to think of lunch. The balloons are red, purple, blue and green. On sunny days they shine so brightly that you can see them from far away, even with carts and people in between.

Some balloons are big and some are small, all tied together with a string. When the wind blows, they pull and tug hard. The child in the poem wonders if one day the balloon man will let them all go, so everyone can watch them sail high in the sky. The feeling is happy, colourful and full of wonder.

New words, with Hindi meanings

market: a place where people buy and sell things (हिंदी: बाज़ार)
square: an open space in a town with buildings around it (हिंदी: चौक)
bunch: a group of things held or tied together (हिंदी: गुच्छा)
purple: a colour made by mixing red and blue (हिंदी: बैंगनी)
string: a thin rope or thread (हिंदी: धागा)
tug: pull hard (हिंदी: ज़ोर से खींचना)
perhaps: maybe (हिंदी: शायद)
sailing: moving smoothly through water or air (हिंदी: तैरते हुए)

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 does the balloon man come?
What colours are the balloons?
What happens to the balloons when the wind blows?
Have you ever held a balloon? What would you do if you had a whole bunch?

Answers for parents

He comes on market days.
The balloons are red, purple, blue and green.
They pull and tug hard on the string.
For example: Yes, I held a red balloon at a fair. If I had a bunch, I would give one to each of my friends.

Grammar corner: Opposites

Opposites are pairs of words with very different meanings, like big and small. The poem has big and small balloons, and it talks about seeing them high in the sky from below. Learning words in pairs makes them easier to remember.

The big balloon is red, and the small one is blue.
The balloon flew high, and the children stood low on the ground.
From far away the balloons looked tiny, but near us they looked huge.

Practice at home

Fill in the blank: The balloons are tied together with a ___.
Match the opposites: big, high, far with near, small, low.
Make a sentence with the word 'perhaps'.

Answers: 1. string · 2. big – small; high – low; far – near · 3. For example: Perhaps it will rain this evening.

Try this

Pretend to be balloons. One child is the balloon man holding an imaginary string, and the others are balloons of different colours. When someone says 'wind', the balloons tug and sway. When the balloon man 'lets go', they float slowly around the room. Afterwards, name all the colours of balloons in the poem.

Tip for parents

Talk about a balloon seller you have seen at a mela, in Hindi first: 'gubbaare wala kahan khada tha? gubbaare kis rang ke the?' Then say the English words balloon man, bunch and the colours. Let your child answer in a mix, and praise every English word they try.

Questions parents ask

What is the poem The Balloon Man about?

It is about a man who stands in the market square on market days with a bunch of colourful balloons. The child in the poem wonders if he will one day let them all fly into the sky.

What colours are the balloons in The Balloon Man?

The poem says the balloons are red, purple, blue and green.

Which NCERT book is The Balloon Man from?

The Balloon Man is Unit 5 of NCERT's older Marigold book for Class 3. The newer NCERT English books are Mridang for Class 1–2 and Santoor for Class 3–5.

Learn every Class 3 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 first writing practice. ₹1,299 for the whole year.

See the free lessons and enrol →