DIY High-Contrast Baby Mobile

I was given this challenge by my wife today: make a high-contrast mobile for our new son using only things we have in the house. Here's how to make a baby mobile on the cheap from items you have around the house. All you need is an internet connection, some extra wire hangers, some duct tape, cardboard, glue and some string. Its very easy to make, and much cheaper than buying one from a store.

Step 1 Obtain high-contrast templates

The first thing I did was to check and see if anyone else had built something like this already. I didn't find anything I liked, but I found a few projects that I pulled ideas from. During my search, I found these great templates for the actual objects suspended by the mobile. The templates can be found at http://crafts.sleepingbaby.net/mobile.html You can download the templates as .pdf

Print the file, and cut out the images. Warning: this will use a lot of black ink.

Comments

[Weasel87]

I wish I would have found this mobile 7mos ago before I settled with the one stupid monkey one that came with the crib!!

[masilum]

I used to have something like this.. Then my child grew up and became Marylin Manson.

[StrangeRover]

Did I miss the memo where they said colors are bad for Baby?

[phoenyxashe]

If you did want to use colors, opt for bright primary colors, as opposed to pastels or other muted colors. As the author mentioned, it's a matter of focus and contrast.

[thedahlpod]

It's not that colors are bad for a baby, or that black and white is necessarily better. As I understand it, newborns reflexively prefer to look at high-contrast edges and patterns, and a black and white pattern creates 100% contrast.

[NutandBolt]

Great baby mobile, I didn't know about the high-contrast edges matter, If I would lay under that mobile it would probably hipnotize me for a very long sleep :-) . I have to make one for my next baby.

[DarkLotusChylde]

Made one for my son. Hung it over his changing station and he just stares off at happily. Using string wasn't an issue since we didn't hang it close enough for him to get caught up in it. Wife and I had a blast making it using B&W photos of ourselves on a few of the objects.

[thedahlpod]

That's awesome glad you enjoyed it.

[simpleinspirations]

wow !

[stonehenge360]

o0o0oo getting dizzy!!??!?!_+_#+

[beaglebot]

Other than just strangling themselves they can get hands and feet tangled and cut off circulation

[lurker99]

I wonder if the baby would like a high-contrast photo of mom or dad ? I.e., use photo manipulation software to scale-up/down a digital photo of a face, then use a software filter to change it from color to a black and white line drawing.

[thedahlpod]

my guess is that babys can (and have) get tangled in the string and strangle themselves. I know this type of thing has happened with cords for window blinds and the like. Right now our baby is only 5 weeks old and cant reach the mobile, but it would be a safe precaution to change the string to something like a zip tie as recommended by matt.t

[DanIzzo]

Can anyone enlighten me as to why no string around a baby? I can understand if the baby can reach the string that it might be a noose like choking hazard, but why is it a bad idea here (where presumably the mobile would be out of reach). I've got a baby on the way and was thinking of making one of these.

[matt.t]

A loop made from a zip tie would probably work in place of string. MT

[billyzelsnack]

Please don't use string around a baby. The commerical ones of these have plastic bits instead of string.