Musical Glasses--a Fun, Musical Experiment

In the winter, you really cannot have too many tricks in your bag in order to break up those bouts of boredom. A real easy project that everyone can do is the classic "Musical Glasses Experiment."

I opted to jazz our experiment up a little bit. Instead of lining up a bunch of the same glasses and filling them up, I chose a bunch of different shapes and sizes. I think that the different glasses made the experiment a little more exciting. I filled each glass with a random amount of water.

Doesn't this look like a fun set up?

Then, to make our "music," we wet our index fingers. We slowly dragged our fingers around the rim of each glass. It may take a couple of tries to get the hang of it.

Really easy!

 

We also tapped the glasses with our fingers to see the difference in the sounds. You can also tap each lightly with a teaspoon.

Another try:

The different sizes and shapes of the glasses as well as the different amounts of water affected how the speed of the sound vibrations, thus making a different sounds.

It will be fun to try this experiment again with a bunch of the same glasses and different amounts of water. However, on the day we did it, I know that my daughter needed something a little more attractive to catch her attention. I also think that it might be fun to do this with the water colored with a little food coloring. This is a really simple boredom buster that anyone can do!