Using nature in craft projects such as this fun twirling mobile is such a great way of bringing the gorgeous outside indoors. Not only is this activity a fun and easy way to extend nature walks, but it is also a fun STEAM activity with lots of creativity and engineering embedded into it. You can even combine it with some math if you like.
Engineering the twig mobile has so many possibilities, from twig hunts to decorating twigs. You can also add other craft projects to the mix to give your twirling twig mobile an extra dazzle as we did. We decided to combine our twig mobile with a cute softie. The softie was designed as a part of the Sew a Softie tutorial hop held by Trixi over at Sew a Softie.
The mobile was inspired by Ana over at Baddle Dabble Do, do check her post out.
Now, Let’s get making!
How to engineer a twig mobile
What you need:
For the mobile:
- Twigs
- Yarn or paint to decorate the twigs
- Yarn/twine/string for putting it all together.
- Scissors
- Small rock
For the softie:
- Template
- Felt
- Thread or embroidery tread
- Stuffing
- Hand sewing needle
How to:
This activity requires a twig hunt prior to making the mobile. For a quick demonstration and instructions on how to make the mobile and sew the softie, watch the video or follow the steps below.
How to engineer the twig mobile:
Step 1 (optional): Decorate your twigs with yarn, as we did, or with paint. You can absolutely skip this step if you like.
Step 2: Plan out and assemble your mobile. We decided to start with a triangle on the top and picked a couple of twigs that would hang under the triangle.
Step 3: For the triangle, overlap two twigs and tie them at the joints using yarn or string.
Step 4: Form a triangle with the third twig. Overlap it with the other two twigs and tie them at the joints using yarn or string.
Step 5: Assemble the other sticks under the triangle in the order and spacing you would like.
Step 6: Measure a string from the base of the triangle to the base of your mobile. Double the length and cut the string.
Step 7: Tie the string to the base of the triangle in the middle. This will be the point where the rest of the pieces will hang from.
Step 8: Find the center of gravity of your first stick by balancing it on your finger. Once you have the center of gravity, tie the string about 2 inches down from the triangle.
Step 9: Repeat step 8 with the remaining sticks
Step 10: Add the rock to the base of the mobile.
Step 11: Tweak the mobile. We recommend, that the twigs on the mobile are straight. If they are slanting, then adjust them by moving/sliding them slightly to the left or the right until they balance in the middle.
Additional: Assemble the softie (for directions watch the tutorial) and attach it to the mobile. You can further embellish your mobile with some felt leaves if desired.
The STEAM behind the fun:
Mobiles are not only beautiful but full of science, engineering, and math concepts that you could introduce and talk about. Here are some examples:
- Center of gravity: is the point where the weight is even on both sides. In the case of the twigs, it was where the twigs balanced on your finger.
- Shapes: different shapes can be used to make the top of the mobile. We decided to use a quadrilateral triangle. A quadrilateral triangle is a triangle with all sides equal. But you can use and try out many different shapes.
- Size, length, and order vocabulary such as ascending order, descending order, longest, shortest, and equal size.
Great page