Listen to the story here:
Read the story here:
Echo, echo
Main task
Invite your child to speak into the cup in different ways. Can they hear an echoey sound? Show your child the pictures and instructions on Resource Sheet 1: Cup echoes. Encourage them to follow the instructions on the sheet and colour in the tick or cross to show if they heard an echo with each try. What do they notice about the sounds they are making? Which did they like the best?
Explain how the cotton wool (or toilet paper) stops the echo – sounds bounce off hard surfaces but soft surfaces absorb sound.
Extension
Your child can experiment with different objects around the home, talking into them in the same way as they did with the plastic/paper cup. They could try cardboard or plastic tubes, boxes, bowls, models made with building bricks or play dough, encourage them to move into different rooms of different sizes. Do they notice a difference in making echoes in the bathroom, discuss why this might be? Most bathrooms have many hard surfaces (and less soft furnishings to absorb sounds).
On Resource Sheet 2: Making echoes, your child can draw a tick or a cross next to the objects they tried. An alternative would be to use Resource Sheet 3: My echoes, where they can draw a picture or write the object they tried, again showing with a tick or a cross if it made an echoey sound.
