Friends, know that I have a slight obsession with Montessori mobiles! They are just the perfect way to engage a young baby and illicit concentration from the beginning of a child's life. And, they are just beautiful -- for babies and adults! The downside is that they don't last very long.
Within a couple of months, babies are ready to move on to more concrete exploration of their environment. This isn't to say that babies won't interact with them for a few minutes, but gone are the days of staring at them for an hour. Instead, babies are focused on moving, chewing, touching, and manipulating the things around them.
A DIY Whale Mobile
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I'm sad to say that this has been the perfect description for Augustus and the visual mobiles lately. He just doesn't have the time. He wants to be exploring his shelf, or rolling across the room, or at the very least, eating something.
The only visual mobile he will still pay any attention to is his DIY whale mobile. And, this is for one reason, and one reason only -- he wants to eat those whales. To make this mobile, I just used clip art and a mobile hanger. I just printed the whales (one regular and one mirror image) cut them out and glued them together. It's worked very nicely!
His attempts to grab them have worked a few times and it is only serving to increase his desire to bring one to his mouth. I'll be honest, he did reach and attempt to eat his butterfly mobile. Oops. So, I have since raised the hanger to accommodate his growth, so the whales remain just out of reach.
Tactile mobiles, on the other hand, still remain popular with Gus. Since he is not yet sitting, or crawling, these do provide some stimulation for him while he is in his movement area. But, I'm not sure these will last much longer either.
When did your baby lose interest in mobiles?
This post is week 27 of my weekly Montessori baby series featuring Augustus.
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