Fun Sound Activities for Kids Aged 5-12: Safe and Educational Play at Home
Educational and Fun Activities
Written by Gregg Payne
21 June 2024
🕓 5 min
Looking for creative and educational activities to keep your kids entertained at home? Sound-based activities are a fun way to engage children in learning, while also developing their curiosity about science, music, and the world around them. With just a few everyday materials, you can set up interactive, safe, and educational sound experiments that will delight kids aged 5-12.
In this post, we’ll explore a variety of fun sound activities that will help your child discover the fascinating world of sound—all from the comfort of home!
1. DIY Paper Cup Telephones
Introduce your child to the basics of sound waves with this classic activity. Using paper cups and string, kids can create their very own telephone system and learn how sound travels through solid materials.
What You’ll Need:
- 2 paper cups
- String (about 2 metres long)
- Scissors
- A paperclip or piece of tape
How to Do It:
- Poke a small hole in the bottom of each cup.
- Thread the string through the hole of each cup and tie a knot or secure it with a paperclip so the string stays in place.
- Let two kids hold one cup each and pull the string tight.
- One person speaks into the cup while the other listens through their cup.
What’s Happening?
The sound of your child’s voice causes vibrations in the bottom of the cup, which travel along the string as sound waves. When the sound waves reach the other cup, they cause vibrations that the listener hears as sound. This activity introduces children to how sound can travel through solid objects like string.
For more on how sound travels through different materials, check out our post How Sound Waves Can Be Fun for Primary School Children.
2. Make a Rainstick
This activity combines art and science as children create their own rainstick—a simple instrument that mimics the sound of rain. It’s a fun, hands-on way to explore how different materials produce sound when they interact.
What You’ll Need:
- An empty paper towel tube
- Rice, beans, or small beads
- Aluminium foil
- Tape
- Markers or paint (optional for decoration)
How to Do It:
- Wrap pieces of aluminium foil into spirals and place them inside the paper towel tube.
- Add a handful of rice, beans, or beads into the tube.
- Seal both ends with tape.
- Let your child decorate the tube with markers or paint.
- Tip the rainstick back and forth to hear the soothing sound of rain!
What’s Happening?
As the rice or beads fall through the foil spirals, they create vibrations that produce sound. The size of the objects inside the rainstick and the material of the tube affect the pitch and volume of the sound, giving children an understanding of how different materials influence sound production.
3. Sound Scavenger Hunt
Turn listening into an exciting game by creating a sound scavenger hunt! This activity encourages children to listen closely to the sounds around them and helps develop their auditory skills.
What You’ll Need:
- A list of common household or outdoor sounds (e.g., a door closing, a bird chirping, the sound of footsteps, etc.)
- A timer (optional)
How to Do It:
- Create a list of 5-10 sounds your child needs to find around the house or outside.
- Set a timer and challenge your child to find and identify each sound.
- After the hunt, ask your child to describe how the sound was made and what they think might have affected its volume or pitch.
What’s Happening?
This activity helps children sharpen their listening skills and increases their awareness of the different types of sounds they encounter daily. It also encourages them to think critically about how sound is created.
4. Create a Water Xylophone
This activity is a fun introduction to pitch and frequency. By filling glasses with varying amounts of water, kids can create a simple musical instrument and experiment with how different water levels produce different sounds.
What You’ll Need:
- 5-6 glass or plastic cups of the same size
- Water
- A spoon
How to Do It:
- Fill each cup with different amounts of water, ranging from full to almost empty.
- Line the cups up and have your child tap each one gently with the spoon.
- Encourage your child to play different tunes by tapping the cups in various sequences.
What’s Happening?
The pitch of the sound changes depending on how much water is in each glass. Glasses with more water produce lower-pitched sounds because the vibrations move more slowly, while glasses with less water produce higher-pitched sounds as the vibrations move faster.
5. Sound Reflection with a Spoon
This activity shows how sound waves reflect and travel through different materials. By using a simple spoon and string, children can hear the sound of a "bell" in a surprising way!
What You’ll Need:
- A metal spoon
- String (about 1 metre long)
How to Do It:
- Tie the string to the handle of the spoon.
- Hold the ends of the string to your ears while the spoon hangs down in front of you.
- Gently tap the spoon against a hard surface like a table or chair.
- Listen closely—your child will hear a bell-like sound through the string!
What’s Happening?
The vibrations from the spoon travel up the string and into your child’s ears, where they are amplified. This activity demonstrates how sound waves travel and how different materials affect the way we hear sound.
Final Thoughts
These fun and educational sound activities are a great way to engage children in hands-on learning while encouraging their curiosity about science and music. By exploring how sound works and experimenting with different materials, your child will gain a deeper understanding of how sound plays a role in their daily life.
For even more exciting sound-based learning experiences, consider enrolling your child in our Science of Sound holiday camps. Our camps offer interactive, hands-on activities that dive into the fascinating world of sound, giving children the chance to explore and experiment in a fun and supportive environment. Find out more about our upcoming camps here!
