Sound and vibration

Ages 6 to 8 Read together, then try alone · about 20 minutes

Read together

Sound is made when something vibrates, or shakes back and forth.

The vibrations travel through the air to our ears.

Fast vibrations make high sounds. Slow vibrations make low sounds.

Do it

1. Put your fingers lightly on your throat and hum. Feel the buzz.
2. Stretch a rubber band over an open box. Pluck it. Look closely at the blur. Stretch it tighter and pluck again. Is the sound higher?
3. Hold a ruler over the edge of a table and flick it. Short or long: which makes a higher sound?
4. Say what you notice: when a sound stops, the vibration stops.

Talk about it

• What is vibrating when you speak?
• How can you make a sound higher?

For the grown-up

Sound is vibrations travelling through air, water or solids. Fast vibrations (high frequency) sound higher. Protect hearing: long exposure to loud sounds, about 85 decibels or more, can damage hearing.

Mark as done

← Previous lesson Next lesson →

Where this comes from

• NGSS Lead States, Next Generation Science Standards: For States, By States (National Academies Press, 2013), performance expectation 1-PS4-1 (plan and conduct investigations to provide evidence that vibrating materials can make sound and that sound can make materials vibrate)
• National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), National Institutes of Health, public information on noise-induced hearing loss

Written with AI assistance and checked against the sources listed. Please read it before sharing it with a child.