Snow day and Crafting

Today I got up at early o' clock and looked outside to see lots of snow again. No visible tarmac on the road so it must have snowed a LOT last night. I didn't know whether to go to school or not, based on the conditions here I thought I might get out of the village (car at the bottom of the road again) but I might not get back in later on! I decided to check the school website to find out if they were going to make my decision for me. And they did. The school is closed today (like lots of other schools in South Wales). 

Since I was up, I had my breakfast and decided to get on with a craft project which has been underway for a while. 

As I have mentioned, the class teacher I'm working with on placement is expecting a baby in April. I decided I should make something for her as a leaving/baby/thank you present. I thought I would get the kids to help me. Which is difficult when you're in class under supervision! So, I told the teacher I had a college project and could I get the children to help me with it. She said yes. I drew some circles on cream card and asked the children to write a different letter of the alphabet in each, in different coloured pens. Like so: 

Then, I cut out the letters and mounted them on different colour card, writing the child's name around the side. 

I took these circles home and laminated them back to back. Then I punched little holes in the top of each, threaded ribbon through and glue gunned the loop closed. I made wire frames for the mobile and attached them all together. Because I had done the alphabet, I had 13 circles to hang, so I made a complex-ish frame. With fewer hangings it would be simpler. Then, I added buttons to the ribbons to hide the uglier joins and to balance the weight on the mobile so that it hung reasonably straight. 

The teacher doesn't know if the baby is a boy or a girl, so I used rainbow colours and lots of different colours of buttons (including some pink and blue). 

This might be a nice project to do with older siblings when a new baby is on the way. The children could draw pictures or write letters or numbers, or even just cut out circles of coloured card (depending on age) and then under parental supervision attach the ribbon/thread and the hangers (I'd suggest the adult pre-makes the wire hanging parts). If the baby's gender was known you could use shades of pink or blue, or if there's a colour scheme to the nursery you could follow that. 

If making after the baby is born, you could make this mobile as a memory mobile by putting the letters of the baby's name on it, time and date of birth as well as birth weight and place of birth etc? That would be cute. 

I'm really pleased with how this has turned out. I hope she likes it!