Whistling with an acorn top is a fun skill and nature hack that may save your life. When hiking it is important to have a method of communicating if you lose your group, become injured, or get lost. Whistles are much louder than the human voice, so a distress signal will carry much farther.
The international distress signal is SOS. With a whistle you can signal distress by blowing three short bursts, then three longer whistles, followed by three short bursts. This pattern comes from the Morse Code equivalent of SOS.
Here’s How You Make An Acorn Top Whistle
Find an acorn top. Make sure it is whole, with no missing chucks or sides crushed. Larger acorns tops are easier to learn with, while smaller tops tend to be louder.
Position your hands. Hold your hands is loose fists with your thumbs on the outside, slightly bent. Press your thumbs together along their length, not side by side, not back to back, but somewhere in between. Your two thumbs should make a Y.
Hold the acorn top between your thumbs and index fingers. The inside of the acorn top should be facing you. Position it such that the rim of the acorn top peaks through the space between your thumbs, just above your knuckles. You should see a wedge of the acorn top.
Position your lips such that your lower lip is below your thumb knuckles and your upper lip above. Then blow!
It may take a few tries of positioning your hands and lips to get the hang of it. Once you figure it out and successfully whistle, it becomes second nature.
If you have kids, teach them how to whistle with an acorn top too! They will have a blast learning this neat nature trick, while Mom and Dad will feel safer knowing that their kids can signal for help if they get separated from the group.