How to Make a Whistle Using a Ping Pong Ball

A hot knife can turn a plastic ping pong ball into a whistle.

A whistle is one of the simplest instruments imaginable. It uses a hollow piece of material with slots cut into it. As air passes through the slots, it makes a sound, the tone of which depends on the size and the shape of the whistle. You can make a simple whistle from many small items, including ping-pong balls. Ping-pong whistles are used by medieval reenactment hobbyists to make whistling arrows; when attached to a dummy arrow and fired, the speed of the air passing through it as it flies makes quite a racket. Making one is easy.

Things You'll Need

• Ping-pong ball
• Utility knife
• Lighter
• Stove
• Arrow

Instructions

1. Mark four triangles onto the ping-pong ball with a pencil, equally spaced around the equator of the ball with their flat bases along the equator line. The bases should be 1/4 inch long, while the distance from the base of each triangle to the tip should be 3/8 inch.

2. Heat the blade of a sharp utility knife using a lighter or a stove element.

3. Cut out the triangles using the hot blade. It will melt cleanly through the plastic of the ping-pong ball. When doing so, try to hold the ball so the cut piece falls away from it.

4. Heat the tip of an arrow and poke it through the center of the ping-pong ball if you wish to use it as an arrow whistle. Once mounted on the arrow, it can be taped in place so as not to shift. Otherwise, wait for the edges of the whistle holes to cool, then blow across them to make a sound.

References

• Whistling Arrow Instructions