Instructions for Can and String Phones

Use recycled items to communicate with friends.

Share a secret or a laugh with a friend from across the room without letting anyone else in on it with nothing more than two empty cans and a string. As one person speaks into one can, the vibrations from her words travel through her can and down the string to her partner's can, where her partner can hear her words. Constructing and playing with the phones is an excellent rainy-day learning activity for a couple of children complaining of boredom.

Things You'll Need

• 2 tin cans
• Nail
• Hammer
• String

Instructions

1. Wash both cans in warm, soapy water. Let the cans soak for a couple of minutes before peeling off their labels. The warm water softens the glue and makes the labels easier to remove.

2. Punch a hole in the center of each can's bottom.

3. Cut a length of string. The longer the string, the further the phone users can be but the lower the quality of the phone's sound.

4. Push each end of the string through the hole in one of the cans from the outside to the inside. Knot the end of the string inside each can to secure it.

5. Hold one can, and have someone else hold the other. Stand far enough apart to pull the string taut. When one person talks into her can, the other holds her's to her ear.

Tips & Warnings

• Fold a strip of duct tape over the top edge of each can if they are rough.