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PSPKK12

Water Glass Xylophone

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Create your own rainbow water glass xylophone using a few simple supplies. Learn about how sound waves travel, how different pitches are produced, and have fun playing on your own homemade water glass xylophone musical instrument!

A child playing a xylophone made out of water glasses

Getting Ready

Making a water glass xylophone is so easy. To begin, we gathered the following supplies:

  • 8 identical drinking glasses or mason jars
  • Water
  • Measuring cups
  • Food coloring
  • Plastic spoon
  • Wooden spoon

We arranged the cups in a straight line. In the first glass we measured 1 3/4 cups of water, then 1 1/2 cups of water in the second glass, 1 1/4 cups of water in the third glass, and so on. We decreased the amount of water by 1/4 cup in each glass, leaving the last glass empty.

Learn about how sound waves travel, how different pitches are produced, and have fun playing on your own homemade water glass xylophone musical instrument!

Once we measured water into each glass we used food coloring to dye the water all the colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. By the time we were done we had a rainbow water glass xylophone!

Learn about how sound waves travel, how different pitches are produced, and have fun playing on your own homemade water glass xylophone musical instrument!

Water Glass Xylophone

The kids used a plastic spoon to tap on the glasses. They were amazed to hear that each glass sounded different!

They took turns using different tools to tap the glasses with. Wooden, metal, and plastic spoons were some of their favorite tools to use as mallets.

Learn about how sound waves travel, how different pitches are produced, and have fun playing on your own homemade water glass xylophone musical instrument!

They quickly noticed that the glass containing the most water produced the lowest pitch while the glass with no water in it produced the highest pitch. I asked them to think about why this would be the case. They came up with a hypothesis as they continued experimenting.

The kids tapped the glasses from the side and from the top. They even had fun tapping them with their palms and fingernails. It was interesting to notice how the pitch was slightly different with each kind of tap.

Learn about how sound waves travel, how different pitches are produced, and have fun playing on your own homemade water glass xylophone musical instrument!

The kids loved trying to figure out how to play simply melodies like “Happy Birthday” and “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” on the water glass xylophone. It was so fun!

The Science Behind the Music

When a mallet taps the glass, the water inside the glass vibrates. The pitch of the sound depends on the speed of the vibrations. Since the glass with the most water slows down the vibrations the most, it produces a lower pitched sound. The glass with no water in it produces the highest pitched sound because the sound waves can move quickly through the air into our ears.

Learn about how sound waves travel, how different pitches are produced, and have fun playing on your own homemade water glass xylophone musical instrument!

Sound is simply vibrations that move through a medium that our brains interpret into noise we hear. When a glass is tapped with a spoon the vibrations travel from the glass to the water, then through the air to our ears. It all happens so quickly!

Making a water glass xylophone incorporates principles of science, math, design, music, and engineering, making this a must-do activity for every home and classroom.

Need More Science Ideas? 

Salt Painting Experiment

Magic Milk Experiment 

Sink or Float Experiment

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Filed Under: Crafts/Activities Tagged With: Kindergarten, Pre-K, Preschool

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Reader Interactions

8 Comments

  1. Shanon

    November 7, 2017 at 9:03 pm

    How many ounces if the Masonjars?

    Reply to this comment
    • Jennifer

      November 10, 2017 at 8:24 am

      You can use about 4 ounces. Thanks!

      Reply to this comment
      • Dottie

        April 2, 2020 at 12:25 pm

        Hi Jennifer,
        I am using this project with my intermediate music classes as we all practice social distancing. I appreciate the science behind it but it covers many musical topics as well. Using different tools for striking produces different “timbre” (tam-bour) just like an oboe sounds different from a violin. I hope they will create songs with their instruments.
        This has been very useful. Thank you.

        Reply to this comment
        • Stephanie Sandstone

          April 10, 2020 at 1:42 pm

          I’m so glad you’re enjoying it, Dottie!

          Reply to this comment

Trackbacks

  1. 25 Water Activities for Preschoolers - Sixth Bloom- Lifestyle, Photography & Family Blog says:
    June 12, 2019 at 9:35 am

    […] Water Glass Xylophone –   Learn about how sound waves travel, how different pitches are produced, and have fun playing on your own homemade water glass xylophone musical instrument! […]

    Reply to this comment
  2. 18 Ways to Stay Sane When You're Stuck Indoors With Kids says:
    March 12, 2020 at 8:31 pm

    […] Water Xylophone from A Dab of Glue Will Do […]

    Reply to this comment
  3. Music Activity for Kids: Fossils - Music Sensory % says:
    May 25, 2020 at 1:17 am

    […] Homemade Xylophone […]

    Reply to this comment
  4. Music Week – Anishinaabemowin@home says:
    October 11, 2020 at 3:01 pm

    […] If you don’t have an instrument that is colour-coded you can make this water xylophone: https://www.adabofgluewilldo.com/water-glass-xylophone/ . If you are not familiar with colour words you can check out this playlist to learn more about […]

    Reply to this comment

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