Physics of Sound – A Fun project with the kids

Kids always beat on everything from floors to your kitchen mixing bowls! Sound is always fun, sure it’s loud but why not turn their little drumming session into a science lesson?

Here’s how you can do a simple Percussion Instrument with the kids.

Bowl Beaters-

What you need-
Couple of empty bowls, jars of different sizes
Plastic Wrap
Tape
Pencils, pens, chop sticks or a toothbrush.

How to set up-
Wrap the plastic wrap across the top of each bowl and tape the plastic wrap in place around the edges.  It’s that easy! Tip– Keep some bowls wrapped tightly while a few others not as tight, this will make a different sound effect for the kids to listen for.

Ask them what kind of sound did they hear?
Is it quiet, loud, high or low sounding?
Do they notice the difference between the loosely wrapped bowl verses the tightened ones?  If not ask them to hit them one by one and listen again.

The tighter the plastic wrap the higher the pitch, the looser it is, the lower the sound they get. The kids will have a blast learning the different pitches!

Enjoy!