Fun craft with the kids

Review by Rachael:

I was searching the web last week trying to come up with a fun craft to do with Jake & Memphis. It can be a little challenging due to the age gap and different interests. I saw several ideas with paper clips and then it hit me – why not some form of a mobile they can hang in their room.
What you will need:
Paperclips
Crayons or markers
Tape
Scissors
String
A base – we used cardboard for ours
Letters – I printed different shapes & sizes of their names and let them pick which ones they wanted to use.
Straws – this is only required if you want a different look or have a lot of letters to spell out the name. We tried it to see which way we liked better.

The first thing we did was to tape the string to the back of the cardboard piece so we had a base.

 Next I had the kids pick out their letters & color them if they wanted to. They also added a little color & design to the base of the mobile. While they were doing this I started putting the paperclips through the cardboard.

For Memphis’ we knew we wanted something with different levels to show off her longer name. So we cut straws and placed them in the paperclips and then added more paperclips to that level. 

With Jake’s we just added four rows of paperclips – different lengths – on to the cardboard base.

After the kids were done decorating their letters we cut them out & added them to the paperclips. I used standard printer paper & they were really thin so we just clipped them on the paperclip. If you had a better cardstock you could poke the paperclip through them.

I thought they turned out well for throwing something together! I have to admit I like the simplicity of Jake’s a little better. It is easier to read his name with only the paperclips hanging down. Memphis did a great job decorating hers but the straws didn’t turn out like we had hoped.

The kids had a great time and it was an easy project. Just remember with a little creativity you can entertain the kiddos for at least 20 minutes with this project!