Gather the kids and some yarn, sticks and beads for this easy to make hanging garden mobile art project. One of the great things about this art project is that the whole family can work on this together and you can customize it to look however you’d like. It won’t take longer than an hour (or two with glue drying time) to make this colorful garden piece and it is is great for kids 3 and up.
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Step 1
Most of these materials you might find around the house. Anything you are missing, we’ve added some links to the right for easy buying. You can substitute the yarn for any durable string and your markers can be any type of markers, we just found the sharpies work best for longevity. If your sticks aren’t staying together with the school glue, you can use a silicone glue or hot glue. If using hot glue make sure you don’t hang this in direct sunlight.
Materials You Will Need
Yarn
School Glue
Beads
Scotch Tape (not pictured)
Sissors
Markers
Large Colored Craft Sticks
Art Trays (optional)
Step 2
Give each child a few of the large craft sticks. The number of craft sticks you use will determine what shape and the size of the base of your garden mobile. We did an odd hexagon shape so we used 6 sticks. If you want a square, use 4 sticks. For an octagon, use 8 sticks. Triangles use 3 sticks. We did this shape so each of the girls could have 3 sticks each.
Have the kids start coloring the sticks with designs, patterns and their favorite letters or numbers. They can color both sides of the sticks if they’d like.
Step 6
String each piece of yarn with beads leaving enough room at the top to tie it in a double knot around the craft sticks. You can have as many strands as you’d like but remember you don’t want to make it too heavy so the craft sticks break. You can also add bells, coins with holes, and metal pieces if you want it to be more like a wind chime.
Jewels and Heart loved this part because we dumped all of our beads into an Art Bin box and they have to go hunting for the beads they want. When they come across beads that are different, such as Heart found a Heart bead and a skull bead, I know so random, but she was so excited. We have bead sets that are organized by color too but this box is for the miscellaneous beads that we collect over time. We were able to string 6 long strands with beads from our bead collection box.
Step 7
Now that you have all your strands completed and your sticks are completely dry (we let ours sit out in the sun for a few hours), you can start tying the strands to the sticks. Spread them out evenly around your shape. You want to make sure the weight is carried evenly throughout the mobile. We did 2 on each long side (orange and green) and one on each side of the crossing sticks.
Step 8
Next, you will cut another set of yarn or string pieces for the mobile to hang by. Make it as long as you want the mobile to hang. These pieces should all be the same size. We did 6 strands so the weight was even all around. Tie them around the craft sticks where you have the beads tied. Have the knot face the opposite direction of the beads (so you can see it when looking at the top of the mobile).
Step 9
Almost done! When you hold each strand of yarn (without the beads) you should have an evenly weighted mobile. If it sways to one side more than the other, add another string on that leaning side to bring it up or move your strings around the sticks more evenly. Jewels is holding the mobile up evenly, so all looks good.
Step 10
We only have two small things left to do. Trim up the yarn pieces so they don’t hang over and look messy. Make sure not to but them too short so the knots don’t come loose. Tie the strands together to make a loop for hanging.
All Done!
There you have it! Get creative with it and most of all have fun making it! Hang it anywhere in your yard and enjoy!
