Endless Summer Projects | Vacation Mobile

by Jennifer Cooper, posted on July 23rd, 2014 in Arts & Crafts, Endless Summer Projects, Traveling With Kids

This project is sponsored by Bing.

vaction mobile - part of the Endless Summer Project Series

This week kicks off the final theme in our Endless Summer Projects Series: Travel. MJ, Alexandra, Amy, Melissa, and I are each bringing you a project that celebrates summer travel and the open road. And I have the pleasure of starting this party…

Our recent California road trip was one I never want the kids to forget. It included the most incredible scenery that we may not see again for awhile. We visited Sequoia National Park, Monterey, Cambria, Solvang, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica and Los Angeles. We saw whales swimming off the coast of Big Sur, dolphins and seals at the beach, a black bear running from a campsite, and trees thousands of years old.

So together, the kids and I created a vacation mobiles. The kids drew pictures of the things they remembered most about vacation and I helped them turn their drawings into something they can hang in their rooms. Now, each kid has a reminder of their amazing and wild California adventure.

ps. California, you are a truly awesome state.

You’ll Need:
Paper
Colored cardstock
Colored pencils, crayons, markers
Scissors
Glue
Small hole punch
4 Equal length pieces of string
Extra string for hanging
Embroidery hoop
Yarn (optional but strongly encouraged)

Step one
Have the kids draw pictures of the things they remember from their trip. It’s helpful to have them draw four larger pictures and eight smaller ones. We determined size by folding the paper into quarters and eighths.

Step two
Cut out their pictures and glue them onto colored cardstock.

Step three
Use the small hole punch to punch a hole into the top and bottom of each drawing. Make sure holes are centered along the midline of the image.

dolphins and smores

Step four
Wrap yarn around hoop. This step is optional and takes the longest amount of time, but I think it makes the mobile look nice and fancy.

Step five
Make little yarn pompoms. Click here for a quick tutorial. Again, optional but so cute.

general sherman

Step six
Take one of the pieces of string, tie it onto the hoop. Thread a large picture through it so that the string runs across the back of the picture. Repeat the process with two smaller pictures. Tie a pompom to the end of the of string.

Step seven
Repeat step five for all four pieces of string.

Step eight
Tie two equal lengths of string to the top of the hoop to create a criss-cross. This is what you’ll hang the mobile from.

Step nine
Hang and reminisce.

mobile made from kids' vacation memories