Stimulating your baby’s vision helps their brain to grow, moving objects help the eyes to co-ordinate and develop an interest for your baby. Mobiles are an excellent way to develop this.
Start by hanging objects above their cot, pram or changing mat.
Here are some useful ideas for making your own mobiles.
For a very simple mobile, just hang a single lightweight object or picture on a piece of thread from some blue tack and fix to the ceiling. The lighter the mobile the more it will move in a draught so that it catches the baby’s attention.
For a more elaborate mobile, try fixing a hook in the ceiling, hang a coat hanger from it on a piece of string and tie a number of objects to the hanger with thread. Make sure it is secure and out of reach to avoid any hazards.
It may take you as while to get the objects to balance. Try to arrange
them so as to emphasize the differences in their size, shape, colour
and texture and replace or rearrange them regularly to prevent boredom.
Here are a few ideas for things to use:
A good way of giving a young baby things to look at in their cot is
to attach them to a length of string or elastic stretched tightly across
the cot and fastened securely to the bars at either side. You can either
thread bulldog clips onto the string and clip the objects up or tie
them on.
If you use elastic for this, they will bounce if they are touched.
You can use almost any lightweight object, including the ones suggested
above for the mobiles. You can also emphasize the contrast between
the objects and change them often.
Remember, babies can only see 6-8 inches away at birth. Babies up to 6 months respond best to bold contrasting colours e.g. black & white.
