A newborn’s vision is blurry beyond ten inches and their perception of color is hazy, so the very first Montessori material is a black and white mobile with crisp lines and simple shapes. The Munari mobile, as it’s called, is simple yet interesting, making it intriguing and stimulating to a newborn while not being overstimulating. Mobiles help infants develop their vision and tracking skills. The Munari mobile is just the first in a series of Montessori mobiles designed to meet infants at different developmental levels.
I’m thrilled to report, I’ve just gained a new nephew! To entertain his big sisters and provide them with a safe way to interact with their new brother, I made them a Munari-inspired kit for making newborn danglies.
The kit consists of four packets, each labeled with a shape (square, triangle, circle, hourglass). The packets contain:
- A piece of yarn
- Three pieces of black paper with the shape traced on in small, medium, and large
- Three pieces of white paper again with the shape traced on in small, medium, and large
- An example of the finished dangly in that shape
The project then goes as follows:
- Get your scissors, glue stick, and hole-punch
- Dump out one packet
- Cut along the lines to get six similar shapes: small, medium, and large each in both black and white
- Glue the large pieces together
- Glue the medium pieces onto the large pieces (opposite colors)
- Glue the small pieces onto the medium pieces (opposite colors)
- Punch a hole
- Tie on the piece of yarn
And you’re done! Hang the danglies over where the newborn likes to lay, or if you’re like my nieces, wear them as necklaces!
