SCIENCE INVESTIGATION

Musical instruments

(Ideal for children from Nursery upwards.)

You will need:

-empty bottles or glasses

-water

-wooden spoon

What to do:

1. To make an instrument called a xylophone lay out some glass bottles or glasses on a table. Use a jug to carefully fill the bottles with different amounts of water. 

2. Use the end of the wooden spoon to gently hit the bottles. 

3. Can you hear that they make different sounds depending on how much water is in them? The science bit: As the stick hits the bottle the air inside vibrates. In bottles with more water, there is less air so it vibrate more quickly producing a higher pitch sound.

Additional task: You could try to put the bottles in order according the pitch of the sound they make and then try to play a song!