Summary
Chapter 2 of the Class 1 Maths NCERT textbook (Joyful Mathematics), "What is Long? What is Round?", teaches young children to identify, sort, and compare everyday objects by their shape — recognising which things are long and which are round — through songs, stories, matching activities, and hands-on rolling and sliding experiments.
- Identifying Long and Round Objects — Children learn to look at objects around them and decide whether each one is long or round. They name familiar things like a pencil box (long) and a ball (round), then take turns naming new examples, making sure to explain their thinking.
- Think and Do — Drawing and Matching Activities — Children draw round objects and long objects in the correct shape outlines and then match pairs of objects that share a similar shape. They also tick the shape most similar to everyday items such as a ball, a cap, a glass, and a matchbox.
- The Wise Grandmother Story — A story about a little lamb and a wolf introduces the idea that a dholak (drum) is round, so it can roll. The grandmother saves the lamb by placing her inside the dholak and rolling it home, helping children understand why round objects roll.
- Rolling and Sliding — Children explore how some objects roll, some slide, and some can do both. Through the carrom striker activity and collecting objects from their surroundings, they discover that the shape of an object decides whether it rolls or slides on a flat surface.
- Project Work — Building and Creating — Children use cardboard boxes and everyday waste materials to build puppets, towers, and clay shapes. They find out which shapes make taller, more stable towers, connecting shape recognition to real building and play.
Key points & formulas
- 01A pencil box is long and a ball is round — the chapter starts by noticing these two shapes in everyday objects.
- 02Children take turns naming one long and one round object from around them, each time choosing something new.
- 03A dholak is round, so it rolls — the Wise Grandmother story shows this idea in action.
- 04Objects can roll, slide, or do both, depending on their shape.
- 05Carrom strikers (gotti) can roll instead of slide, depending on how they move on the board.
- 06Children collect real objects and sort them as rolling or sliding to check their ideas.
- 07Cardboard boxes, birthday caps, and other waste materials are used to build puppets, towers, and shapes in project work.
Frequently asked questions
01What is Chapter 2 of Joyful Mathematics Class 1 about?
It is about recognising long and round shapes in everyday objects. Children look around, name examples, and do activities to understand these two basic shapes.
02What is the song in Chapter 2 about?
The song goes 'What is long? What is round? Look around, look around.' Children join in and name things like a pencil box (long) and a ball (round) as they sing.
03What do children draw in the Think and Do activity?
They draw round objects inside a round shape outline and long objects inside a long shape outline, practising how to match an object to its shape.
04What is the Wise Grandmother story about in this chapter?
A lamb is chased by a wolf, and her wise grandmother hides her inside a dholak (drum) and rolls it home. Because the dholak is round, it rolls fast and the wolf cannot catch it.
05Why does the dholak roll in the story?
The dholak rolls because it has a round shape. Children discuss how its curved surface lets it roll down a slope, unlike flat-sided boxes that would slide or stay still.
06What is the difference between rolling and sliding?
Rolling is when an object turns over and over as it moves, like a ball. Sliding is when an object moves along a surface without turning, like a ruler.
07Can an object both roll and slide?
Yes. The chapter asks children to look for objects that can do both, and to discuss in class which features of the object allow it to roll as well as slide.
08What shapes do children tick in the matching activities?
Children tick the shape most similar to a ball (round), a cap (cone-like top), a glass (cylinder), and a matchbox (rectangular box), matching everyday objects to their shapes.
09What does the 'Let us Do' activity ask children to make?
Children use different objects from their surroundings — notebooks, pencil boxes, water bottles, birthday caps, and old boxes — to build something of their choice, like a house, tower, robot, or bus.
10What project work is given at the end of the chapter?
Children can make puppets from cardboard boxes, build towers with different objects to find the most stable shape, or create shapes using clay.
11Which shape makes taller and more stable towers?
The project work asks children to test this themselves by stacking different objects, encouraging them to observe and compare without giving a single fixed answer.
12How does the carrom activity help children understand rolling and sliding?
Children play carrom and watch how a striker (gotti) moves. They notice it can roll instead of slide depending on how it is hit, making the concept of rolling versus sliding real and hands-on.
13What everyday objects are mentioned as examples of long things?
The chapter mentions a pencil box and legs as long objects. Children are encouraged to look around and find their own examples of other long things.
14How does the chapter encourage children to think for themselves?
Children must explain why they call an object long or round. For example, a tumbler could be seen as long by some children and round by others, and both views are accepted as long as the child explains their reasoning.
More chapters in Joyful Mathematics
Read Chapter 2 of Joyful Mathematics, the Class 1 Mathematics NCERT textbook (2026-27 edition), online for free: the complete chapter as published by NCERT with every diagram, solved example and exercise, with step-by-step solutions, answers and revision notes. Open the NCERT PDF above, or browse all NCERT Class 1 textbooks.
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