Kid Science: Making (Sound) Waves

Sound waves are a tricky scientific concept, but the basic idea is: the slower a sound wave is, the lower it sounds.

Tap on the side of a glass of water, and you create sound waves. If the glass is full of water, the sound wave gets slowed traveling through the water, and the pitch of the sound is lower.

If the glass has less water in it, the wave isn’t slowed down as much, and so it has a higher pitch. Watch and see how you can experiment with this at home with your kids!

Simply line up a few glasses.

Add water to different levels

Tap with a fork or spoon and listen to the different pitches – high vs. low!