One molecule pushes to the next and so on. We will experiment with sound traveling through matter. We will use paper cups and string to make a string telephone. Have someone say numbers softly into string telephone. The other person will repeat what is heard.
String carries sound better than air.
Put your ear against the wall and have one student tap the wall from some distance away with eraser end of a pencil. As the tapping continues, lift your ear away from wall so that sound reaches you through the air. Which is louder - through the air or the wall. Sounds also differ in pitch. Pitch is the highness or lowness of a sound.