Frequently Asked Questions

I believe that by making them yourself you put a little bit of you inside the mobiles which will make it extra special for you and for your baby. There are a few mobiles which can be personalised according to your own taste/circumstances.

It is true that you can find the resources for all these mobiles yourself.  What I am saving you with these DIY sets is:
- time, so that you don't have to go from shop to shop and research online until you find all the materials
- money, so that you don't end up with extra material that you'll probably never use.
   Everything in the sets is the exact amount and in the right measurements.
- frustration. I made all the mobiles multiple times so that I can work out the most straight forward instructions and offer varieties and tips and tricks in my instruction guides.

Please read my blog post about this subject.

Montessori mobiles closely follow babies' all-round development every step of the way from birth and provide just the right amount of stimulation without overwhelming them. Therefore the first four traditional mobiles have a strict sequence, starting with the Munari, followed by the Octahedron, the Gobbi and finally the Dancers.
After 3 months, when the animal mobiles are introduced, the mobiles can be alternated according to your baby's interest. They are used alongside the Tactile Mobiles
Read more about the sequence in this blog post.

Generally speaking, the first four traditional mobiles are changed every two weeks. (Please observe your baby as every child is different and change them accordingly.) This, however does not mean that you worked so hard for only two weeks of use! Read this post for more info.

The amount of time you need to assemble the Montessori mobiles greatly depends on how faithfully the instructions are followed, how carefully you cut out the elements and how quickly you can find the balance etc. I would suggest leaving a morning or an afternoon free to make one. I believe that the process of making them is part of the journey.

When your baby moves over to the tactile mobiles, your job becomes easier as well. The tactile sets can be put together in minutes. However, sewing the Puzzle Ball would take much longer.

I invested a lot of time in making sure that everything you need is included in each kit. In each product's gallery there is at least one photo where you can see all the resources and there is a detailed resource list in the description section. 
For the DIY Montessori Mobile Set I made a box opening video which you can watch here.

The type of paint included for the Munari and the Gobbi mobiles is acrylic. I chose this because it works better on wood and styrofoam than tempera and dries quickly.
Acrylic paint is water soluble which means that if it dries, all you need is a few drops of water to loosen it up. It also means that it's easy to clean with water.
What you do have to pay attention is that while painting, keep your brush in the water when not in use so the paint doesn't dry on it.

For suggestions on how and where to hang the mobiles please read the end of this post. For practical advice and mistakes to avoid read this post.

While some mobiles have strict instructions, there are a few where you can add your personal touch.

Gobbi: you can choose between green, blue and pink paint.
Dancers: please choose TWO colours when ordering.
Whales: you can go all out on giving different markings on each and every whale. I have a Pinterest board dedicated to these gorgeous animals where you can observe different colouring found in nature or just get inspired and make up your own!

With the Animal Mobiles you have the freedom to decide how long the mobile should be. This can depend on your personal taste or the amount of space you have, be aware the length compromises the balance of each dowel.

There are a couple of reasons for why there are no strict measurements for the length.

These mobiles give a lot of freedom to the maker in terms of how long the strings should be. As the instruction says, the only important thing here is that the elements hang at different heights. Obviously, the longer the string, the further away the elements are from each other, the harder for the baby to see them. With younger babies, you might want the elements closer together so your baby can see them better. With older babies, you might want them further away from each other to challenge their sight more.
However, if you leave them too short they might get to squished and won't have enough space to move around without constantly bumping into each other.

You also need to consider how much space you have above the baby. If you hang them from the ceiling then there's ample space. However, I personally use a mobile support and for that I need to make it shorter. So again, it's down to you and your circumstances how long/short you can/want to make it.

The balance is completely biased when the elements are hung in different length. I don't really want to make them a uniform size because of the above mentioned reasons.  What I can suggest is that once you found the perfect balance, make a little notch on the dowels so next time you know where to hang the elements and don't have to play around with it. Alternatively, you can use a glue gun to glue the thread to the dowels.

When you try to balance two elements on the short dowel, you have to see which one is the heaviest. In case of the Swallows mobile, for example, between the swallow and the cloud it will be the bird. So that has to go a bit further out on the dowel and the cloud a bit further in. This sometimes the question of millimetres and lots of trial and error. Once you found the balance and hang it, they will stay like that, so there's a reward after all that frustration.

I made a balancing video where I demonstrate the above mentioned technique, you can find it here.

For more information about the Tactile Mobiles, such as what types are there, how to hang them and about the mental and physical benefits read this blog post.

Please refer to the Refunds and Returns policy.