First School Project - Due First Day of School!

Oh my goodness!

The first days of school are upon us. 

School starts here in two days.  Orientation was last week.  Two weeks ago, we received a letter from O's teacher.  She is entering 5th grade in an accelerated cluster within the school system.   Since it is an accelerated program, we expect a faster pace and a little more homework.  But we were a bit surprised to find that the introduction letter from the teacher included a project due on the first day of school.  A fairly simple one, maybe, unless you have a gifted kid.

 A mobile.

The idea is for the mobile to tell the teacher and the rest of the class about each student.  The teacher actually had to write that it was "limited to" 5 items - not "at least", but "limited to".  And it's a good thing he did, because before we went back and re-read the letter, she had come up with 13 things to include...  So we decided to make every facet of the mobile be representative of her.  The piece at the top is a bird house with a heart entrance symbolizing family and how we have an open door policy.  The sticks are trees branches painted "poodle pink" with glitter, to represent both her love of camping and that she is a girly-girl.

We made these great spheres of yarn (representing her love of sewing and needlework) to hold each of the 5 items in, all in light pink and mint, her two favorite colors.  We got the idea and the Mod Podge-like mix from ruffledblog.com.  We did not make the from-above holder that they used, but used some of the gazillon plastic cups we get from fast food restaurants to hold the balloons, then flipped them over in the morning.
Maybe their method would have worked better.  I actually think what would have worked best would have been a stick with a suction cup on the end (like those toy arrows that you could buy way back when) and at least 4 hands per balloon.
These spheres were way harder to handle and get wrapped than I expected.  I nearly had a photo for the "nailed it" Pinterest viewers!  There was some serious dexterity and patience needed, plus an area and old clothes that you do not mind getting ruined.  I did not consider any of these things beforehand.  But, after 2 attempts and giving up on the exercise shorts and t-shirt I was wearing, I got the hang of it, mostly.  Mind you, this is with both of us working on them.  I don't think I could have done a good job on my own and I am a Pinterest queen! Anyway, we now have 5 yarn balls in which to place her treasures.

So, we have a top piece (bird house), the sticks (tree branches) and the items to hang (in yarn balls).  How do we put these suckers together?  This is what we did and learned:

• We laid it all out in the general way we wanted it to hang with the understanding that things will shift.
• We started at the bottom.  Yes, really.  This is really important.
• We attached two items (or however many you want) to the bottom stick. 
• O used her finger to find the balance point, so that the stick remains parallel to the ground while suspended.  This is where we wrapped the fishing line and hit it with a bit of hot glue to keep it from sliding on the stick.
• Then we hung that stick and the three other items to the top stick.  (We were limited to it hanging only 24" down - you could have several layers, which would add much interest, as none of them will probably be centered in the traditional sense. Aesthetically, I would rather have had three.)
• We found the balance point of the top stick and wrapped fishing line and hot glued it.
• My husband screwed a hook for hanging canvases into the bottom of the bird house.
• We tied and glued the fishing line to the bird house and it was ready to hang!

Here is what we included in the mobile.

The five items that she narrowed it down to (kind of) are:

1. A paper airplane made out of a map (and glitter) to represent her love of travel.
2. A ballerina Christmas ornament, because she is a ballerina and who doesn't love Christmas!
3. Art paper with a Bass clef on one side and a cello on the other.  Yes, she plays the cello.  Pretty darn well, too.  Both the Bass clef and the cello are created in glitter.
4. A Disney Princess Tiara with Minecraft Mini figures attached to the bottom because she is a Minecraft Princess (also a Disney one).
5. A mini easel to represent her love of making art. (I drew the line at glittering the easel.)

Each of these hang in the center of one of the yarn balls.

To slip in her other interests, we are adding a piece hanging half way down each line to a ball.

1. Snowflake (glittery) for winter.
2. A bat, edged in glitter, to see her love for the creepy.
3. Dolphin for her love of sea mammals.
4. A star for her love of night, the sky, and astronomy. 
5. And, a peace sign for her need for peace, harmony, and joy. (She is hypersensitive to others' emotions.)

So, we ended up actually getting everything in, surprisingly.  I don't know if the teacher will like it or not, but we think it is pretty stinking cool.

Our house is covered in glitter, but then, it pretty much always is...  We don't mind.

Do you have any homework assignments before school?  Made a wonderful biography project?
Please share your ideas.

And if you have made this yarn/balloon thing, please let me know how it turned out for you!

Peace and Joy,
Staci

Want to see more of our projects like this?  Check out our Kid Science Play page.