ECHO, ECho, echo

The recent lack of carpeting in the long hallway leading to the community room created a long and cavernous space. The children often seemed to talk very loudly, or even yell, as we walked through that space. At first, I found this jarring, but I soon realized that the children were "playing" with the echoes created by that space, and I decided to take advantage of it. One morning, I took a group of children and some fun materials to that hallway, and allowed the children to experiment with noise and echoes. They discovered what happened if they talked through a toilet paper roll, banged on bowls, whispered, or even yelled in to a bowl. They had a great time creating noises (loud and soft) and echoes. They then drew pictures of "noise" and "echoes." It was great to see how they represented a sound on a two-dimensional peice of paper. It was a wonderfully creative morning, all around!