Making a Whisper Phone that children can use to help them practise their reading.

Make a whisper phone for a fraction of the cost.

I have encouraged all my Facebook friends who include heads of schools and  teachers, to make a phonic or whisper phone this weekend. I have heard so many people praise the humble whisper homemade phone as an excellent reading tool that I did my own research as well.


 I can share this - there is a deluge of testimonies from teachers themselves, parents and many researched-based articles on the educational value of the whisper phone. Do yourself a favour and set aside time to read a few of these articles and blogs to see for yourself.

School leadership teams are resource persons 

Also, we know that school heads and those who are part of the school management team have instructional leadership as their mandate. These leaders have to be at the cutting edge of educational research. They should also be familiar with classroom methodologies and know what is available out there so that they can direct their teachers to these resources. 

Sharing the use of the Whisper phone is one strategy that can be used by anyone and the bonus is that anybody can make this learning tool.

Now, let's get on with our DIY...

Trevor is preparing to assemble the whisper phone.

Making the Whisper Phone

So this morning, after attending my cousin's funeral and en route to the traditional tea, Trevor, my darling brother, and I popped in at a local hardware store.

 1.  We bought a cut off piece of PVC pipe about 50 cm long (lucky me!) and asked the assistant to cut it into 9cm pieces.

2.  I also  bought 6 elbow connectors which I was told, are called bends or conduits. Nice lesson there! Then, right there in the car, Trevor made three whisper phones in a flash. Right there in the car...

Voila, the whisper phone is done.

All you have to do is place a plumbing elbow connector  at the two ends of the cut pipe. Easy peasy!   (Thanks, Trevor)

Adding designer touches - optional

Then, when I arrived home from the tea, I only had to decorate the phones to make them snazzy. I searched for some leftover stickers in the house and voila- there I had two super- looking whisper phones. Decorating these phones is part of the fun. You can paint them, glue on pictures from magazines, wrap material pieces around the centerpiece or use colorful duct tape. 

Next steps

I am sure there are many parents who will happily assist to help make these whisper phones for their children. Better still, I can just imagine how much fun the children will have, making their own learning tool. 

Go ahead... Make your whisper phone today.