Explanations

LEAPERS= The verb “to leap” means “to jump”, so “leapers” here refers to things that jump.

PLAYFUL= Full of high spirits and fun; someone who likes to play.

TINY= Very small.

BEAN= A grain of a plant used for eating (see picture here).

SEED= The part of a plant that you put in the ground and water to make a new plant grow.

SHRUB= A woody plant, smaller than a tree, with several stems instead of a trunk (similar to a bush). See picture here.

ODD= Strange.

A NOVELTY= Something new.

(THEY) HAVE A MIND OF THEIR OWN= They think and take their own decisions.

FEEDS= Eats.

FLIP= Turn over.

JUMPY= Prone to jump, nervous, easy to scare.

FUSS= To get nervous and move around a lot.

FIDGET= To behave or move nervously.

THE SHADE= An area in the shadow.

THEY FUSS AND FIDGET INTO THE SHADE= They move quickly and nervously to roll back into the shade and away from the dangerous heat of the sun.

A LIFESAVER= Something that can save your life.

DAMAGE= Harm or injure.

WEAVE= To make cloth by crossing and intertwining threads. For example, if you want to make a sweater with wool, you take the wool and weave it using two large needles.

SILKEN= Made of silk.

THE CATERPILLAR REPAIRS THE DAMAGE BY WEAVING A SILKEN WALL= We use BY + -ING to express how we manage to do something.
- She was in the kitchen making sandwiches –this is what she was doing
- She helped me in the kitchen by making sandwiches ---this is how she helped me (she made sandwiches in order to help me).
- I saw him climbing up a wall ---this is what he was doing
- I saw him by climbing up a wall ---this is how I could see him, it’s what I did to see him (I climbed a wall in order to see him).

GRIP= To grip is to hold tight, to grasp firmly.

ROLL= Turn around.

WEIRDNESS= Something weird /wɪəd/ is strange, odd. Weirdness is the quality of being weird.