Guide

Babymobiles are wrongly designed!

22.12.2018

Translation: machine translated

A baby's perspective shows that mobiles are often useless. I'll explain why and give you a home-made solution.

The target group for a baby mobile is generally babies. Mobiles are hung above the changing table or the cot and are designed to entertain the lying babies with movement, colours and different subjects. But I notice that (almost) all models are completely wrongly designed. It doesn't matter whether they are boats, stars, animals or other shapes: They are all only visible from the front. This means that the baby is lying down and does not see the cute ladybirds, but its legs from below (see picture above). You can probably imagine what a ship, a star or an animal looks like from below. Not exactly exciting for a baby.

This is exactly why I made a mobile out of toilet rolls for my little one. I'll show you how so that your baby will have something nice to look at in the future too.

Materials for the mobile made from toilet rolls

Paper in the desired colour
WC rolls
Scissors
Klebstoff
clothes pegs
Wood skewers, branches, bamboo sticks or something similar
gift ribbon, sewing thread or string

Here we go:

Choose a desired subject. For example, I chose a fox, a bear, a pig, an owl and a reindeer

First cut the paper that will be used to wrap the toilet roll. Normally, you will need the 10x15cm format plus a strip measuring 1x10cm (image 1).
Then glue the cut paper to the toilet roll. Attach four clothes pegs to dry (image 2).
Once it is dry, you can attach the strip to the inside of one side of the toilet roll (image 2). This is used at the end to make it easier to attach the head.

Image 2: Stick the paper and the strip to the toilet roll. — Picture 1: Cut the paper to size.

Now create the desired animal head out of paper. Imagination is required here. In my example, I use two to four different colours (image 3).
At the end, you can emphasise the contours of the face with shading using a normal pencil. This gives the animal's head a little more authenticity (image 3).
Once the animal heads are dry and finished, stick them onto the already attached paper strips (image 2 right & 3).

Image 3: Create the desired animal subjects.

Now take the wooden skewers and fasten them together with ribbon. In my case, I chose a pentagon (image 4). Alternatively, you can use branches, bamboo sticks or similar items that can also be tied together crosswise. You can either cut off the excess ribbons or leave them as they are.
Cut five ribbons of the same length (depending on how long you want the mobile to be) and tie them to the corners (image 5).

Picture 4: Basic framework for attaching the animal motifs.

Image 5: Attaching the gift ribbons. — Picture 4: Basic framework for attaching the animal motifs.

Now take all five ribbons and knot them together at the top (image 6).
Finish by attaching the created motifs with ribbon or thread as desired (image 7). To do this, I made a hole at the end of the toilet roll on the right and left with an eel and pushed the thread through with a needle. I then knotted the two ends of the thread to the bamboo sticks in such a way that the subjects can still be flexibly rotated and moved around.
The inexpensive and, above all, child-friendly mobile is finished (picture 8).

Picture 6: Knot all five ribbons together at the top end.

Image 7: Attaching the subjects. — Picture 6: Knot all five ribbons together at the top end.

Tip:

If you opt for forest animals, you can also hang acorns, pine cones or paper leaves in the gaps. Make sure they are well secured, however, as your child could choke on falling objects. For this reason, fir branches, which lose their needles over time, are also not suitable.
There are no limits to your creativity when it comes to motifs. Other suggestions include angels, beautiful shapes, Father Christmas with different reindeer or different types of vehicles.
Hang the mobile high enough so that your child can't reach it. Otherwise they will tear the animals off and put them in their mouths.

Alternative

Are you too lazy, don't have time (not really an excuse, because I don't either) or don't have a creative knack? Fortunately, these mobiles are properly designed:

Crib mobiles

−13%

CHF26.– was CHF29.90

Goki Mobile spring meadow

Crib mobiles

Moulin Roty Music mobile

Crib mobiles

CHF15.70

Goki Butterflies

−13%

Crib mobiles

CHF26.– was CHF29.90

Goki Mobile spring meadow

Crib mobiles

Moulin Roty Music mobile

Crib mobiles

CHF15.70

Goki Butterflies

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Myrtha Brunner

Editor

myrtha.brunner@digitecgalaxus.ch

I’m the cook, cleaner, police officer, nurse, entertainer, motivator, author, storyteller, coach, organiser, chauffeur, lawyer and judge. To put it simply, I’m a mum to a daughter and not just a (Content) Manager at the office but also at home.

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Babymobiles are wrongly designed!

Materials for the mobile made from toilet rolls

Here we go:

Alternative

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