Each student will first make half of a paper cup telephone. Then, students will pair up to complete their telephones. Homeschool students will need a partner for the activity.

Students will also have the chance to come up with their own experiments with the telephone. The list below shows materials they could use. You can get more materials if you'd like.

• more paper cups, including larger and smaller cups
• construction paper that could be used to make a cup larger
• ribbon, yarn, dental floss, or other kinds of string
• more of the same string you used before
• more paper clips

Prepare String

Each student needs a piece of string that is 6 feet in length. Read our Teacher Tips for an easy way to prepare several strings all at once using a yardstick.

Display Engineering Materials

Your students will have the chance to come up with their own experiments with the phone. But before students attempt to modify and improve the design of their telephones, they need to know which materials are available to them. During Step 15 of the experiment, we suggest you show students which of these will be available.