Upstart Magazine

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How to Make Your Own Smart Phone Speaker

Wendy Schollum

Here are two very quick activities to help you to make your own smartphone speaker.

What you need for a super simple speaker:

  • A cardboard tube (one from inside a kitchen roll works well)

  • Scissors or a craft knife

  • Drawing Pins

  • A smart phone

To transform your simple speaker you need:

  • Your simple speaker (a cardboard tube that fits your smart phone into it)

  • Three pieces of coloured A4 card

  • Double sided tape

  • Scissors

  • Safety clips (optional)

What to do:

NOTE: Always ask an adult before using scissors.

  1. Cut out a slit in the middle of the cardboard tube that is big enough for your smart phone to slot into.

  2. Insert the drawing pins into the bottom of the tube to help it to stand in place.

  3. Switch on your favorite playlist and slot the smart phone into the tube

You’re done! The cardboard tube helps to concentrate the sound produced by your smart phone, which is what makes it sound louder… even though the volume hasn’t actually increased.

How to transform your simple speaker:

  1. Roll a piece of coloured card to create a cone shape. Secure it in place with a paper clip and do the same with a second piece of card.

  2. Make sure your cones are roughly the same size and adjust them if you need to. Then, secure your cones in place with tape and remove the paper clips.

  3. Using the end of your cardboard tube as a stencil, draw a circle on one side of each cone and cut out your circle shapes.

  4. Wrap the cardboard tube in a piece of coloured card, securing it with double sided tape as you go.
    Then, get an adult to help to find the slot, and cut the phone slot into the paper with scissors or a craft knife.

  5. Gently and carefully fit the tube into the hole in each of the cones to connect them and complete your speakers.

TIP: Because the cones are detachable you can try lots of different designs to see which works best.

Other speakers to attach to the tube:

  • Plastic cups

  • Paper cups

  • Funnels

  • Block off one end and put a cup or cone at the other end

Which items work best for your speaker?
We would love to hear what you have discovered!