Who hasn’t explored the wonders of two cups and a piece
of string? Technology, creativity, speaking and listening –
this activity has it all and is great fun too!

What you need:

• Cleaned out plastic cups
• Rope or string
• Metal marbles (if you have)
• Magnets
• Paint

What to do:

1. It all starts with the decorating. If you don’t have marbles and magnets, decorate how you wish. Give each
child a plastic cup, a magnet and a marble.
2. Then show them how they can dip the
marble in various pots of paint and use
the magnet to move the marble around
the inside of the cup. Let them make
their own paint choices and patterns and
you’ll have some highly concentrated
wee faces.
3. Once the plastic cups have dried, make
a hole in two different cups and connect
them with the rope and a couple of
knots.
4. Get your wee ones to explore what happens
when they go far away and speak quietly
into the cups – the noise should travel
down the rope to the little ear at the
other end.
5. Get your wee ones to explore more options
and experiment. Will a glass marble work
in the same way? Will a thinner or thicker
rope work better? You could also do the paint, marble and magnet on a piece of paper.There’s plenty of learning
opportunities in this simple and fun activity!