The Montessori infant materials include several mobiles to engage the baby’s visual sense. I’m a slacker, so I never got around to making the first two in the series (black and white shapes and primary color octohedrons). The Gobbi, though, was so beautiful I couldn’t resist it. The idea is that they are balls of equal size, and they are five different shades of the same hue. The strings they are hung on are different lengths, so the darkest ball is the lowest, and the lightest ball is the highest. They’re supposed to build visual discrimination and help the baby practice focusing at different heights as she moves her gaze from one ball to the next.
I made it by ordering some wool dryer balls from an etsy shop, asking that they be dyed in different shades of blue. The seller completely understood what I was going for, and the balls were perfect. I used invisible thread to string them to an embroidery hoop that I got at my favorite local thrift shop for $0.75. Then I used some yarn to tie it all to a carabiner. JC put up a hook yesterday so I could hang it from the ceiling.
Petra was completely fascinated with it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her be so absorbed in anything, other than our faces, for this long. It’s amazing. The next step is to lower it a bit so that she will bump it with her flailing arms and start to learn cause and effect.
Right now, I’m content to let her just learn beauty.
[…] She likes to watch things, too–trees against the sky, shadows on the wall, her mobile. […]
[…] It’s funny, since I definitely have less time now, for anything, but I’ve made more things for Petra than I did for Silas by this age. In addition to the “Baby Carrie” dress, I knit a little sweater before she was born, and made her mobile. […]
[…] said, they loved mobiles (remember to think about what they will look like from underneath, not from your eye line). I also […]