Photo: hownowdesign

A baby crib mobile is fun and stimulating for your child, but babies aren’t the only ones who get to enjoy them: you’ll have fun too making one that’s more educational, better looking, and less expensive than what you’d find in a store. Mobiles have been found to improve a baby’s rate of development. Babies respond well to slow-moving objects, and that’s why having a few mobile above the crib is a good way to keep your child entertained and ‘educated’ at a young age. Then there are the added bonuses: the fact that babies who have something interesting to engage them will tend to be happier and quieter, and the chance that the mobile will keep your baby pleasantly distracted at nappy-change time.

Make it yourself

Photo: hownowdesign

Making your own mobile is preferable to buying one in a shop because you can choose the objects you use for their educational value and for the way they look in your baby’s nursery. A baby crib mobile should feature textured objects that your baby can look at and touch, as this is the way to encourage stimulation that involves more than one sense. When you make it yourself a mobile can be more carefully planned to avoid the over-stimulation that some shop-bought models might cause – you can have only a few objects on the mobile, and alternate them as time goes by.

Going mobile

To make a baby crib mobile, you’ll need a dowel rod, another piece of wood to use to use as a cross-bar, pretty string or ribbon, and objects to hang on the mobile. Remember that the objects you choose cannot have sharp edges and should be non-toxic. You might want to choose a theme for your mobile if you make it yourself – a nautical theme works well, and so do bees and butterflies. In this case it’s a good idea to buy more objects than you anticipate using on the mobile at one time, as this will allow you to switch pieces interfering with the theme.

Photo: jigabugbaby

Attach the dowel rod to the side of the baby’s crib and tie the string or ribbon firmly to it, then use it to attach the longer piece of wood, again making sure that it’s very secure – you may want to drill through it and tie the string through the hole. Tie pieces of string to the length of the rod and use them to attach the small mobile toys at a height at which the baby just reach them with her or her arms outstretched. Remember that he or she needs to be able to get hold of the objects in order to feel their interesting textures, but that reaching for them is the point of the exercise, and they certainly shouldn’t be touching the baby.

Last but not least

Once you’ve made sure that your baby crib mobile is safe and educational, your part of the job is done. Enjoy watching your baby play with what you’ve created, and don’t forget to join in the fun.