SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS FOR KIDS

Grade level: pre-school and older, with help from a parent for the scissors portion

GATHER THIS:

• Paper cup
• Paper clip
• String
• Scissors
• A small amount of water in a bowl

THEN DO THIS:

• Tie about two feet of string to a paper clip (make sure to tie a tight knot!).
• Poke a small hole in the bottom of the cup with the tip of a pencil.
• Thread the string through the hole in the bottom of the cup.
• Before you use water to play with your laughing cup, see what happens without water.
• First, hold the string taught and pull your fingers along the string. What sound do you hear? Do you hear anything at all?
• Now, try out your laughing cup with the water.
• Dip the string all the way into the bowl of water (make sure to saturate the string).
• Holding the string taut, pull your fingers along the string a little at a time to make laughing noises.

WHAT IS HAPPENING?

Your fingers create a vibration on the string, which is amplified through the cup to create the sounds. You can play with different-sized cups to create a variety of sounds. Next, try using a coffee or soup can to see what kinds of sounds you can make. Have fun and try it out!