Engineering Musical Instruments with First Graders

The first graders have been studying sound. They learned that sound is vibrations that travel through the air to your ear drum. They learned that there are four types of instruments: blowing, plucking or strumming, hitting, and rubbing. They also did some science investigations to learn how to make low and high pitches. Then they applied their knowledge to design and build instruments. Their criteria was that they had to use the materials available in the classroom or in the recycling bin, and their instrument had to be capable of creating at least two different pitches.  These kids are really proud of their work!