- a selection of containers, bottles, tubes, and pie pans made of plastic, cardboard, and aluminum that make interesting sounds when tapped and scraped (containers with ridges make especially interesting scraping sounds)
- craft sticks and unsharpened pencils with erasers for tapping and scraping the containers
- recorder or video camera
- aluminum
- different
- loud
- predict
- soft
- sound
- tap
MA Standards:
Speaking and Listening: SL.PK.MA.1 Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners during daily routines and play.
MA Draft STE Standards:
Physical Sciences/Matter and Its Interactions/Properties of Matter PS1.B Differentiate between the properties of an object and those of the material of which it is made in science explorations and activities such as art and music.
Physical Sciences/Energy and PS4.B Apply their understanding in their play of how to change volume and pitch of some sounds.
Head Start Outcomes:
Logic and Reasoning/Reasoning and Problem Solving Recognizes cause and effect relationships.
Logic and Reasoning/Reasoning and Problem Solving Classifies, compares, and contrasts objects, events, and experiences.
PreK Learning Guidelines:
Science and Technology/Inquiry Skills 1 Ask and seek out answers to questions about objects and events with the assistance of interested adults.
Science and Technology/Inquiry Skills 2 Make predictions about changes in materials or objects based on past experience.
Explore Together (indoors): Drums and Scrapers
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.
STEM Key Concepts: An action has to be done to make a sound; A sound becomes louder when the force of the action that is creating the sound is increased; A sound becomes softer, or quieter, when the force is decreased
ELA Focus Skills: Listening and Speaking, Vocabulary
Focus children’s attention on the materials. Ask volunteers to demonstrate making different tap and scrape sounds.
- Then hold up an aluminum pie pan. Talk about its characteristics, such as shiny, light weight, bumpy edges, etc. Say, I wonder what sound this will make when I tap it like a drum. Ask children to predict what sound it will make.
- Tap the pie plate and describe the sound it makes. Use descriptive words such as loud, rattly, tinny, etc. Ask, Does it sound like you thought it would or did it make a different sound?
- Review children's predictions as you discuss the actual sound to the predicted sounds. Encourage children to use sound vocabulary such as louder, tap, or soft.
Tell children they will continue to explore tapping and scraping sounds while using the different materials. As children explore, encourage further exploration by commenting and/or posing questions such as,
- Show me two different sounds you made using the pie plate.
- Can you make a sound that is even louder than that one? How about a sound that is soft, like a whisper?
- Wow! Listen to that rattly sound Megan made with that tube. Can you make a sound like that with your box? Does is sound the same as Megan’s or different? Why do you think so?
- When Max put his can down on the table and tapped it, I think it sounded different than when he held it in the air and tapped it. Let’s listen.
Encourage children to share their ideas with one another as they explore. You may want to record a video or make an audio recording of the sounds they are discovering. Also record children working together and sharing ideas.
Reflect and Share
Have children take turns demonstrating sounds. Play back the video or audio recording and encourage children to talk about the sounds they made. Ask, Which materials make similar sounds and which make different sounds? Why do you think that is? Praise children in the video for cooperating and sharing their ideas with others.
Take It Further: Model a tapping pattern, for example, long-short-short; long-short-short, and invite children to copy that tapping pattern on their instruments.