Sound Energy Unit - Hands-on Science Activities - Stations/Centers/Labs & STEM

This engaging sound energy unit includes five labs that can be set up as stations or centers, a STEM activity, review, and assessment. Your kids will love the hands-on investigation – and you will too!

Open the preview to take a closer look at the science unit, which uses the 5E Model.

Engage: A pretest gets kids thinking about sound energy.

Explore: Using inquiry, students explore key science concepts. For each guiding question, they explore two or three simple (but powerful) activities and draw conclusions. These can be conducted as labs, stations, or centers.

• What is sound? Kids use tuning forks, tin cans covered with plastic, and rubber bands to discover that it is a vibration.
• How does sound travel? Students clap their hands in front of them, above them, and behind them. They drop pennies in water and play with Slinkys.
• What is amplitude? They strike the table, pluck rubber bands, and clap their hands with more and less intensity.
• What is pitch? Kids pluck thick and thin rubber bands. They strike bottles of water containing different amounts of water. They also blow across the mouths of the bottles.
• Which materials conduct and insulate sound? Students place different materials in a coffee can then shout into it. They tap spoons tied to strings onto the side of a table.
• Does sound travel better through solids, liquids, or gases? Kids tap the table while resting their heads on cans filled with air, water, and sugar. They tap spoons tied to strings with fingers in and out of ears.

Explain: They watch sound videos. This reinforces basic concepts and gets rid of any misconceptions kids still may have.

Elaborate: Kids participate in a sound energy STEM challenge. Using simple materials, they design a musical instrument that produces high, medium, and low pitches.

Evaluate: Students review and take a posttest. Flash cards and a study guide help them study. Then they take a simple test. It consists of true-false questions on concepts and matching vocabulary with definitions.

The unit includes all the pages you’ll need teach sound energy:

• Lesson plans
• Complete directions for every lab/station
• Student lab sheets
• Station signs
• Flash cards
• Study guide
• Assessment (pretest and posttest) with answer keys
• Pictorial directions for STEM
• Lab sheets that take them through the engineering design process

For the science activities, you’ll also need some materials. Most can be found in your classroom or home. (I picked up the Slinky at the local dollar store. Once I collected everything, I stored it in gallon-sized Ziploc baggies for the next year.)

• Tuning fork
• Plastic cup
• Water
• Rubber bands (two widths)
• Empty can
• Rice
• Bowl
• Penny
• Slinky
• Metal spoons
• Empty box
• Three glass bottles
• Disinfectant wipes
• String
• Coffee can
• Soft fabric
• Aluminum foil
• Paper
• Wooden spoon
• Plastic spoon
• Three same-size cans with lids
• Sugar, soil, or salt

For the sound STEM activity, you’ll also need:

• Toilet paper tubes
• Straws
• Rubber bands
• Craft sticks
• String
• Screws of different sizes

Yep, these activities take a little set up. But it’s worth it!! Your third, fourth, of fifth grade students will love it – and so will you!

• Engagement is at an all-time high as kids explore science concepts with hands-on activities.
• When they do it themselves, students truly understand properties of sound energy.
• Activities address the intent of your standards. For example, if you teach, NGSS 4-PS3-2, you can rest assured that students will understand the transfer of sound energy.

Listen to what other educators are saying about these physical science resources.

• “Fantastic! I loved the simple sound labs with guided questions to get students thinking about the sound concepts they are seeing.” – Emilee M.
• “These sound energy science activities were a game changer in my classroom! My students were engaged in the learning and made progress towards their learning goals.” – Mikey D.

Printable and digital versions of each worksheet are included.

• A PDF provides a traditional pencil and paper option.
• Easel Activities or forced Google Slides offer digital versions.

Looking for more? Check out the forms of energy bundle.

Enjoy teaching!

Brenda Kovich