Sound Cylinders

Sound Cylinders
Sensorial - Auditory Sense
Level	Primary
Age	3 +
Prerequisites	Silence Game

Also called Sound Boxes.
This activity teaches the child to be able to distinguish between small differences in sound.

Presentations

Matching

1. Take both boxes of Sound Cylinders to a mat or table. Put the red box on the right and the blue box on the left. Put the lids of the boxes to either side.

   

2. Take one of the cylinders from the red box. Shake it a couple of times by each ear and then set it on the mat below the red box.

   

3. Remove a cylinder from the blue box. Shake it a couple of times by each ear to see if it is the same as the red one. If it is not, set it on the lid next to the blue box and try another blue cylinder.

   

4. When a matching blue cylinder is found, place the matching pair side-by-side in the upper left corner of the workspace.

   

5. Put the blue cylinders that did not match back in the box.

   

6. Remove another red cylinder and repeat this process. Continue until all the cylinders have been matched.

   

Grading

1. Take one of the boxes of cylinders to a mat. Place it in the center of the mat and place the lid to the right of the box.

   

2. Remove one cylinder and listen to it. Place it at the bottom center of the mat. Remove another cylinder and listen to it.

   

3. Place the louder of the two at the bottom center of the mat, place the softer of the two on the lid.

   

4. Listen again to the cylinder at the bottom center of the mat. Remove another cylinder from the box and compare as before. Repeat until all of the cylinders have been compared and the loudest of them has been determined.

   

5. Place the loudest cylinder at the top left corner of the mat.

   

6. Move the rest of the cylinders from the lid back into the box.

   

7. Select another cylinder from the box and compare with the others in the box as before until the next loudest cylinder is found. Place the next loudest cylinder to the right of the loudest.

   

8. Repeat this process until all of the cylinders have been placed in order from loudest to softest in the top left corner of the mat. Shake them each in order to check the work.

   

9. Return the cylinders to the box in random order and take the box back to the shelf.

Variations and Extensions

• An optional material to include before the Sound Cylinders is the Sound/No-Sound material. Collect some small identical containers and fill half of them with materials that will create a sound when the containers are shaken. Have the child sort these by those that have a sound and those that do not.

Material

Make Your Own

• These were made from paper mache boxes purchased from a craft store.

  

  Source: Maybe Montessori

• Sound cylinders could also be made using candy tubes.

Where to Buy

Prices and links checked: 23 January 2022

Sound Cylinders
Store	Price
Adena	$33.92
Affordable Montessori	$39.00
Albanesi	$42.00
Alison's	$27.56
Bruins	$105.00
E & O	$53.10
Hello Wood	$107.00
IFIT	$23.00
Kid Advance	$33.99
Materials Co. of Boston	$71.00
Montessori Concepts	$49.00
Montessori Outlet	$59.95
Nienhuis - North America	$113.40
Thinkamajigs	$34.95
M.Vita Montessori Material	$59.99

Further Reading

• Dr. Montessori's Own Handbook by Maria Montessori, pages 106 & 109 (1965 Schocken Books edition)
• Basic Montessori: Learning Activities for Under-fives by David Gettman, pages 121-125
• Teaching Montessori in the Home: The Pre-School Years by Elizabeth G. Hainstock, pages 60, 93