Water Jar Chimes — Sorting High and Low

Jars filled with different amounts of water become a home-made set of chimes, and the child tunes their ears by finding which sound is higher, which is lower, and lining them up like a staircase.

  1. Set out 5 identical glass jars or sturdy tumblers on a folded tea towel. Together, pour a different amount of water into each — from nearly empty to nearly full. A drop of food colouring in each makes them easy to tell apart.
  2. Let the child tap each one gently on the side with a wooden spoon or pencil. Just listen for a while.
  3. Take the two extremes — nearly empty and nearly full. Tap one, then the other. “Which sound is high, like a little bird? Which is low, like a big bear?” Reach your hand up for high and down for low.
  4. Mystery tap: the child turns round or closes their eyes. Tap one of the two jars. They show high or low with their hand, then turn and check.
  5. Shuffle all five jars. The child taps and compares two at a time and arranges them in a row from lowest to highest — a sound staircase.
  6. Play up and down the staircase, then let the child pick out a tune of their own.

Variation: blow gently across the tops of bottles with the same water levels and discover that the order flips — the fullest bottle now sounds highest. Or keep three jars and try to find the opening of Hot Cross Buns or Mary Had a Little Lamb.

Requirements

  • Space: A table top or a tray on the floor
  • Surface: Stable table covered with a folded tea towel to stop jars sliding and to catch spills
  • Materials: 5 identical glass jars or sturdy tumblers, a jug of water, a wooden spoon or pencil, optional food colouring
  • Participants: 1 adult + 1 child
  • Supervision: Close — glass and water are involved; adult stays at the table

Rationale & Objective

Telling high from low is one of the three sound contrasts named in this subdomain and in the Core Knowledge Kindergarten music sequence, and it is the hardest of the three. Research on children’s pitch vocabulary (for example Costa-Giomi and Descombes, 1996) suggests that young children can usually hear a pitch difference before they can reliably label it, partly because “high” and “low” are also used for loudness and for position in space — so “high” easily gets mixed up with “loud.” The remedy is to isolate pitch — same jar, same tap, only the note changes — and to pair the word with a gesture and a picture, which is what this activity does. Pairing and then grading sounds from lowest to highest is the classic sequence of the Montessori bells, here rebuilt from kitchen jars. It also quietly introduces a piece of science (more water, slower vibration, lower sound) and the mathematical idea of ordering by an attribute.

Progress Indicators

  • Early: enjoys tapping; says the sounds are “different” but cannot say how; uses “high” and “loud” interchangeably
  • Developing: correctly labels the two extreme jars as high and low, with hand gestures; unsure when the two sounds are close together
  • Proficient: orders 3–5 jars from lowest to highest by comparing pairs; identifies high or low with eyes closed; uses the words correctly for voices and other instruments
  • Advanced: orders jars with small differences; predicts what adding water will do to the sound; picks out a simple 3-note tune; notices pitch going up or down in songs

Safety Notes

  • Use thick jars or sturdy tumblers, never thin wine glasses, and tap gently on the side with wood, not metal
  • Check each jar for chips or cracks first; if one breaks, the adult clears it up and the child steps away
  • Wipe up spilled water straight away so nobody slips, and keep electrical devices off the table
  • Food colouring stains — cover clothes and surfaces, or leave it out
  • With younger siblings around, do not leave the filled jars unattended

Hints

  • Playfulness: give each jar a creature — mouse, cat, dog, cow, whale — and let the child decide who lives in which jar by its voice
  • Sustain interest: change the instrument next time — bottles to blow across, a row of different-sized pan lids, metal spoons hung on string, or the notes of a toy xylophone
  • Common mistake: tapping harder on some jars than others. A hard tap sounds louder and the child will call it “higher.” Keep every tap the same, and name the difference plainly — “that was louder, not higher”
  • Limited space: two mugs — one empty, one full — on a tray are enough for the high-or-low guessing game; with no equipment at all, use your voices as squeaky mouse and growly bear
  • Cross-domain: ordering by an attribute is early maths (seriation); measuring and predicting water levels is science; pouring from a jug is a practical-life fine-motor task
  • Progression: two very different jars → guess with eyes closed → order three → order five → jars with small differences → find a tune → predict before tapping

Sources

  • Core Knowledge Sequence (E.D. Hirsch) — Kindergarten Music, discriminating high and low, loud and soft, fast and slow
  • Montessori sensorial curriculum — the Montessori bells (pairing, then grading pitches)
  • Costa-Giomi, E. & Descombes, V. (1996), “Pitch labels with single and multiple meanings: A study with French-speaking children,” Journal of Research in Music Education
  • Singapore MOE Nurturing Early Learners Framework — Aesthetics and Creative Expression (exploring elements of music)
  • Teaching Strategies GOLD Objective 34 — explores musical concepts and expression
  • Gardner, H. (1983), Frames of Mind — musical intelligence and sensitivity to pitch