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Friday, July 10, 2015

Make a Water Xylophone and start exploring Sound with kids!

Today we're doing another super easy Preschool STEAM activity!  Chuck and I recently explored sound by making our very own......

DIY Water Xylophone!


Make a Water Xylophone- Easy way to make music and explore sound with kids

I went into this activity without any expectations.  We simply followed our curiosity and tried making different sounds with a variety of glasses and amounts of water.  Here's how our sound exploration went:

  • First, we compared glass and plastic cups to see which ones would create better sounds.   

  • After determining that glass cups sound better, we set off to build a water xylophone.  I don't own a ton of matching glasses, so we used glass cups of varying sizes.  

  • My preschooler LOVES rainbows and food coloring.  So of course, we had to drop food coloring into each glass to make everything look pretty!


add food coloring to create water xylophone



  • Then, we  poured random amounts of water into each glass.  (Again, I just let him lead the exploration. He loved purple, so we poured a LOT of water into our purple glass.)

  • Then, we compared the sounds made by large and small spoons and forks.  (He liked the fork the best!)

Explore sound and build a water xylophone with kids


  • Then went through and I asked him to tap adjacent glasses to see which glass had higher and lower pitches.  Then, we arranged them from highest to lowest pitch.

  • And then we looked at two similar glasses and talked about how water level affected pitch.  

  • Then, we went bonkers and tapped all the glasses. Once he was done with the activity, we poured the water into our water table for some water play afterwards.


Let them explore Sound- Build a water xylophone and talk about pitch, volume, and vibrations with kids!



In today's post we explored our sense of sound.  It's the final post in our super fun collaborative 5 week Summer STEAM CAMP SERIES.  Previously, we explored our Sense of TasteSense of Touch, and Sense of Sight.  (I missed the sense of smell week due to illness!)

If you're looking for other great ways to explore sound with your kids, check out these awesome posts below!


Happy exploring, friends!
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