Mobiles Make Awesome Kid-Made Gifts

I got the idea from a nice young man who made me a mobile last year. He actually cut and sanded the heart for his mobile. Since I’m nowhere near as handy as he is, I simplified the project so the kids and I could have a fun and easy time with our kid-made gift mobile project.

Materials needed to make a heart mobile:

• Wooden Shapes – we used Wood Hearts
• Eye Hole Screws 
• Fishing Line  or Jewelry String
• Beads or Charms
• Glitter Paint or Permanent Markers

• First, paint or decorate your wooden shape. Allow it time to dry.
• The kids decorated one with snowflake stamps.
• Another decorating idea is to make a fingerprint heart.
• Then screw in the eye hole fasteners. Make sure that you put one at the bottom of the shape and then screw them in at parallel points on the shape. We used a ruler and marked where the screws should go. You can choose to hang as many or as few strings as you like but you will need an odd number to hang. Screw a fastener at the top of the shape.
• We had a group of different aged children and the eye hole screws were too difficult for the little one. So we stabled the strings to the back of the shape and then covered the staples by cutting out the shape on sticker paper and adhering that to the back of the shape.
• Tie the jewelry string or fishing line onto the charms or beads. Tie a string to the top fastener. Tie the strings onto all the eyehole screws. Make sure that the matching sides are level.

We think people will really appreciate this homemade gift. You can also personalize it by putting a photograph on one or both sides of the shape.