Investigate Sound With a Cup and String Phone

Ready to bring the science of sound to life in your classroom? This printable resource pack invites your students to build and experiment with a classic cup and string phone! Designed for elementary learners, this hands-on activity helps students explore how sound waves move through solids and how vibrations carry messages from one place to another.

Using simple materials and guided instructions, your students will experience the excitement of discovery while constructing their own working cup and string phone models.

Build and Experiment With a Paper Cup Telephone

This activity pack includes everything you need to teach the science behind a paper cup telephone. Students will build a phone using paper cups and a piece of string, then test how well it works across different distances and conditions. The included worksheets guide students through:

• Making predictions
• Recording observations
• Answering reflection questions about how sound travels

This paper cup telephone experiment makes the perfect science center or small group investigation and works well during a unit on sound, communication, or energy transfer.

Download Your Cup & String Phone Activity

Let your students become sound scientists! With this cup & string phone activity, your class will explore how sound vibrations move through the string and reach the other cup. This printable pack includes:

• Step-by-step instructions
• A materials list
• Experiment recording sheets

Ready to get your lesson plans under wraps? Your new resources are ready and waiting. Give that dropdown arrow on the Download button a click for your choice of Editable Google Slides or easy-to-print PDF. Download, Print, and Go!

Resources to Pair With Your String Telephone Experiment

Your string telephone experiment pack is ready to print and use in the classroom today! This engaging science experiment supports NGSS-aligned lessons on sound and energy and is ideal for students in grades 2–4.

We recommend pairing this string telephone experiment with:

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Sound Energy Task Cards

Reinforce student understanding of sound energy facts and vocabulary with this set of 24 task cards.

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Natural or Man-Made Sound? Worksheet

Use sound energy worksheet to help students differentiate between natural and man-made sounds by sorting their sources.

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Sound Energy Sources Interactive

With your students, explore the sources of sound energy and how we sense them using this interactive science activity.