DIY Sound Cylinders

Sensorial

Recognizing different sounds

Okay so this one is really cool and fun to make. The best part is, when you see the child has mastered it you can change the sounds. What am I talking about? Sound boxes. The purpose of this activity is to engage the sense of hearing, enabling the child to recognize/differentiate  sounds.

To make this activity I found some transparent bottles at the $ store in the crafts section (6 for $ :)). I bought 2 packs. To make the sound bottles I needed 2 sets of 6 bottles with color.

 I cut thin strips of construction paper according to the height and diameter of the bottle. In my case it was 3cm x 9cm. I simply took the strip rolled it and inserted it in the bottle. No gluing no taping. Then to cover the bottom of the bottle I cut circles 3 cm in diameter and inserted it in the bottom and pressed the sides to make sure it was fixed. Voila! the bottles were now ready to be filled.

  

You could use anything to put in them lying around the house. Just make sure each set of bottles has one bottle with exactly the same objects so they make the same sound. I used: 3 crystals, 1 wooden bead, 3 nuts, 1/2 teaspoon rice and a 1/4 teaspoon lentil. I left one pair of bottles empty.

Once it was all done I placed the blue bottles in the blue tub and the red bottles in the pink tub. Now for some Sound FUN!!!!!

So she was asked to pick one bottle shake it and hear the sound it made then, she had to pick a bottle from the other tub and find  the bottle with the matching sound. It's quite exciting to see the intense concentration, the shaking of each bottle next to the ears. :) Once a match is found the two bottles are kept together  and she starts all over again.

Lil Muallimah really enjoyed this activity. Not only that, while she was doing it, Lil Muallim # 2 kept saying "Can I do this after her this looks sooooo FUN!!" And once he was done I put in front of Lil Muallim # 3 who had just come in the room and he did it too. He infact, did it extra cautiously... not wanting to take any chances hehehe!!! That was fun to watch. ALHUMDOLILLAH

Tip: You could use anything that can be closed tight to make them, like bottles, boxes, camera film cases etc.

The important thing is that as this is a sensorial activity. It should be done in silence with concentration. You can see how in the video.

Another awesome DIY idea can be seen in this blog.

Also found a link on flickr to make these out tissue rolls. (check out the following pictures to see the steps)

And this is what the actual Montessori Sound Cylinders look like