- rubber bands of different thicknesses
- shoe boxes, bread pans, and other open containers around which the rubber bands can be stretched
- high
- low
- pluck
- sound
- vibrate
MA Standards:
Language: L.PK.MA.6 Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, listening to books read aloud, activities, and play.
MA Draft STE Standards:
Physical Sciences/Matter and Its Interactions: Structures and Properties of Matter Physical Sciences/Energy PS4.A Investigate different sounds made by different objects and different materials and reason about what is making the sounds. [Cause and Effect]
Head Start Outcomes:
Logic and Reasoning/Reasoning and Problem Solving Recognizes cause and effect relationships.
PreK Learning Guidelines:
English Language Arts/Language 2 Participate actively in discussions, listen to the ideas of others, and ask and answer relevant questions.
Explore Together (indoors): Rubber Band Sounds
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.
STEM Key Concepts: Sound is caused by a vibration; An action has to happen to make a sound; Sounds vary in three ways: volume (loud or soft), pitch (high or low), and timbre (quality); A sound becomes louder when the force of the action creating the sound is increased; A sound becomes softer, or quieter, when the force is decreased
ELA Focus Skills: Listening and Speaking
Gather children around the materials. Invite children to explore making different sounds with the guitars by plucking the rubber bands. Focus children on watching how the rubber band moves when they pluck it and how that affects the sound. Ask questions such as,
- Can you make a high sound? Can you make a low sound?
- Look closely at the rubber band when you pluck it. How does it move? Introduce the word vibrate to describe what the rubber band is doing (wiggling back and forth).
- What do you think is making the sound when you pluck the rubber band?
- Why do you think the sound changes when you pull the rubber band tighter?
Reflect and Share
Invite children to share their observations and talk about how the rubber band moves when they pluck it. Encourage children to use the word vibrate in their discussion. Have volunteers demonstrate for others how to make the rubber band vibrate faster and slower. Ask children to tell how the sound changes.
Take It Further: Invite guests, such as family members, other teachers, or friends, to bring in stringed instruments (guitar, violin, etc.) and demonstrate how they are played. Also, if possible, have children watch the strings on the soundboard of a piano while it is being played (you can see the soundboard of an upright piano from the back).
English Language Learners: Demonstrate the meaning of vibrate using gestures and body movements (wiggling your finger/body). Repeat the word as you demonstrate. Then pluck the rubber band and have children repeat the word vibrate.