One skill that we have been continuously working on at our house is volume control. My oldest son really struggles regulating his volume level. Oftentimes, he talks so loud that it's on the verge of screaming, yet he doesn't realize how loud he is actually speaking.
So enter the pool noodle phone.
While my oldest was at school, my four year old and I played around with the pool noodle as a spin on the classic telephone game. You know, the one where you whisper a secret into someone's ear and they whisper what they heard to the next person, and so on. Anyway, we used the pool noodle phone to ask questions back and forth and/or say silly things.
This pool noodle phone is a great speech tool for kids, especially those with autism who struggle with volume control. It helps kids hear the difference between loud voices and soft voices, while refining their listening skills.
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How to Use a Pool Noodle Phone for Working on Volume Control
For this activity, you'll need one pool noodle. You may want to cut the pool noodle to a shorter length for smaller kids. Ours was already cut because it was a leftover piece from our trampoline safety hack.
You can either use the pool noodle phone between two people or for one person. The idea behind the pool noodle phone is to speak into the noodle at a volume level that is audible, but not too loud or it will hurt your ears. However, if you whisper too softly, then you won't be able to hear what was said. It's a great tool for practicing volume control.
The pool noodle phone is also a great way to work on listening skills and answering WH questions.
Two Player Pool Noodle Phone
For two person play, one person listens while the other one speaks. Here's four year old K listening carefully to what I was saying to him through the pool noodle phone. You can see him concentrating hard to figure out what was spoken.
I told him a lot of funny things and asked him questions.
Then he would either repeat what I said back to me, answer my question, or tell me something completely different. He really loved trying to tell me secrets through the pool noodle phone.
One Player Pool Noodle Phone
Playing with the pool noodle phone individually is a great way to really listen to your own volume levels to help you get used to the difference between loud voice and soft voice. Simply loop the pool noodle from your mouth to your ear.
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