Surrounding babies with black and white shapes stripes and images has been shown to engage the baby helping him to develop his sight and also keeping him calm and content, even during nappy changing. Sounds perfect to me :)
I started looking for black and white toys or mobiles and found them to be few and far between and of those I found, I wasn't keen on AND they cost a small fortune. Babies find the Black and White shades most stimulating during their first month and spending £30 for a mobile we'll use for 30 days seemed a bit excessive...so I decided to make my own! (and it cost me 40p)
What you'll need:
Black & White Foam Sheets (I used 4x A5 sheets of each colour - 5p each from supermarket)
Coloured foam of your choice (optional)
Pritt Stick
String
Pencil
Thin tipped black permanent marker
Scissors
Existing Mobile (I had one by I Love My Bear, ToysRus and temporarily untied the existing mobile characters so I just had the frame left)
Step 1:
Choose the shapes, characters or design you are going to use for your mobile.
I decided to focus on black and white animals: Zebra, Panda, Cow and Penguin.
Step 2:
Lightly draw your design on the foam and begin to cut.
Make 2 duplicate copies of each character as you will be sticking them back to back.
For example, with the Zebra I used white for the main body cut this out and drew around this first piece to cut out the duplicate shape
Step 3:
Use the contrasting coloured foam to cut out the shapes which will add detail for your character.
For example with the cow I used white foam for step 2 and used the black foam to make the cow's spots.
You can be as free as you like but initially I lightly drew where I wanted the spots to be on the cow with a pencil as a guide.
You can also use a bit of coloured foam to add even more detail but this will only really benefit us not the baby. I used pink for the cows nose...just because it looked pretty :)
Tip: use this time to cut out two of every shape you make so that both the original and the duplicate are the same. This saves time and looks better - I learnt the hard way...my zebra took twice as long to make than the other animals because I was faffing trying to make the duplicate match the original by free hand.
Step 4:
Glue. Glue all your detail foam to the main body foam, then stick the 2 characters back to back leaving enough room at the top to pop the string in the gap between the 2 main body sheets and glue up later.
Step 5:
Repeat steps 1-4 until you have 4 separate designs or characters ready.
Step 6:
Take some string and insert one end in the gap you've left at the top, between the 2 main sheets of foam and glue securely.
Tip: You could also add little shapes to the string. I decided on little hearts as the string looked bare.
Step 7:
Untie existing characters from your shop bought mobile and replace them with the ones you've just made.
Keep hold of the characters you've untied as you'll be using them again in a month or so.
Tip: If you dont want to use your shop bought mobile, you could use 2 wire coat hangers, 2 wooden batons nailed together or an embroidery ring if you prefer.
Step 8:
Hang up over your babies crib or changing table for them to enjoy.
My little man hasn't graced us with his presence yet but I promise I'll report back to let you know if the black and white objects soothe him as well as is reported. In the meantime, a bit of craft is always as welcome distraction from my ever-growing impatience for our baby's arrival.
Let me know if you the black & white thing has benefited your baby or if you have any more crafty ideas :)
Sources:
- http://www.childrensvision.com/development.htm
- http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/child-rearing-and-development/bright-starts-babys-development-through-interactive-5
- http://kidshealth.org/parent/growth/senses/sensenewborn.html
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