The Magic Garden: NCERT Class 3 English Story (Marigold Unit 1)

etmantra29 Jun 20209 min read

In this gentle story, flowers talk, sing and dance in a school garden. Children enjoy the magic and learn that caring for plants and birds brings joy to everyone.

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From the NCERT English book Marigold for Class 3, unit 1. NCERT’s newer Class 3 book is Santoor, but many schools still teach Marigold.

Watch: The Magic Garden

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

Names of flowers: sunflower, rose, marigold, poppy, pansy
How children care for plants: watering and digging
Words that tell how: happily, proudly
Reading lines aloud in different voices: who said what

What the story is about

There is a pretty garden in a school playground. Sunflowers and roses stand high against the wall, with marigolds, poppies and pansies too. The flowers dance and sing in the sunshine and call the school children their little gardeners. One morning a poppy says it likes the little ones to water its thirsty roots, the marigolds say the boys dig the ground well, and a tiny bird says the children bring bread. The sun promises to help too.

The children come out laughing and singing. One child praises the tall sunflower, which lifts its head proudly, and another loves the marigold in its golden dress. The garden also has fairies, whose songs only children can hear. That night the garden is quiet, and the flowers and birds dream of the children coming again.

New words, with Hindi meanings

magic: special and wonderful, like something from a fairy tale (हिंदी: जादुई)
gardeners: people who look after plants in a garden (हिंदी: माली)
watering cans: containers with a long spout for pouring water on plants (हिंदी: झारी)
thirsty: needing water to drink (हिंदी: प्यासा)
roots: the parts of a plant that grow under the ground (हिंदी: जड़ें)
proudly: in a way that shows you feel good about yourself (हिंदी: गर्व से)
fairies: tiny magical people with wings in stories (हिंदी: परियाँ)

Explained in Hindi

If your child finds the English hard, watch this explanation of the story 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.

Where was the magic garden?
Who were the little gardeners?
What did the children do for the flowers and birds?
Have you ever looked after a plant? What did you do?

Answers for parents

It was in a school playground.
The children of the school were the little gardeners.
They watered the thirsty roots, dug the ground well and brought bread for the birds.
For example: Yes, I water the tulsi plant at home every morning and pull out the weeds.

Grammar corner: Words that tell how (-ly words)

Some words tell us how something is done. Many of them end in -ly, like happily and proudly. In the story, the flowers sing happily and the sunflower lifts its head proudly.

The children watered the roses gently.
The little bird ate the bread quickly.
The poppy waved softly in the wind.

Practice at home

Fill in the blank: The plants have ___ roots, so they need water.
Choose the right word: The sunflower stood ___ in the sun. (proud / proudly)
Make a sentence about how you can help a plant.

Answers: 1. thirsty · 2. proudly · 3. Sample: I can give water to the plant every day.

Try this

Find a plant at home or near your school and be its gardener for a week. Water it, look at it each day and say something kind to it. Your child can also draw the magic garden with all the flowers named in the story.

Tip for parents

Name the flowers in Hindi first, then in English: सूरजमुखी is sunflower, गुलाब is rose, गेंदा is marigold. Then ask, “Which flower do you like?” and happily accept an answer that mixes both languages.

Questions parents ask

What is the moral of The Magic Garden?

Caring for plants and birds brings joy. The flowers and birds love the children because the children water them, dig the ground and bring bread.

Why is it called The Magic Garden?

Its flowers talk, sing and dance, and it has fairies whose sweet songs only the children can hear.

Which NCERT book has The Magic Garden?

It is Unit 1 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 →