Bring in the NEW YEAR with a...MOBILE!

When I thought about what freebie I could make to share with my wonderful Created by MrHughes friends, I knew I wanted something that would be useful (a must) and creative (a must). I also realized that I like to have student work in my room. If you have seen my room, you will notice that I do NOT have much room on my wall because of the way my room is.

That means the only real "empty" space I have in my room is the ceiling. I told myself that I need to use this space better. Thus the New Year's Goals and Resolutions Mobile kit was born. I went through several different models of models before I settled on this one:

Okay, so that isn't a very good picture. The ones I wanted to use aren't all the great either. Sigh... However, you can totally get the idea! :)

I made the copies and stapled them into packets (or rather, the copy machine did that for me- I LOVE technology!). I knew that having 60+ students make these mobiles would be an undertaking, and I was excited for the challenge. So, with the copies are ready and me excited to go, I still have one challenge: HOW?

My next thought was... how do I hang 60+ mobiles without making a million (okay, okay.... 60) new holes in my ceiling. Then a good friend suggested that I just hang string around the room and use clothespins to hang them. Well DUH! That made perfect sense. So I ordered clothespins (mini-colored ones) from Amazon. That was an interesting experience. Let's just say that I need to read better next time. I spent over $15 on 250 one inch clothespins. I was VERY upset when they came. I must not have been thinking when I read 1 inch. I was totally expecting the "mid-size" versions. My wife just laughed at me. Oh well. When you live in the middle of no where you take what you can get. Ha ha. Here a picture of some of the costly beauties:

I do have rather large hands, but even so, those are tiny little buggers. However, they have some super gripping power. So, all in all, it wasn't a total waste.

Anyways, I hung the string around my room in a big "U" shape. If you do this, pull the string fairly tight, otherwise the mobiles will hang much too low. Then, as the students completed them I hung them up. That way I was not left with a pile of tangled mobiles to hang.

If you can't hang them as they make them (after all, not everyone is 6' 3" tall), then have the students lay them out on top of each other carefully so they don't get tangled. You could also send them home the same day they finish them. But, I like the idea of them being where the students can see and enjoy them for a week or three.

Here is how my classroom display turned out. I LOVE it!

As you can see, they make a very impressive display. And, the best part? This is a FREE resource in my TpT Shop.

You can click on the picture OR you can click HERE to get YOUR free copy now. Oh, and I plan to update it each year with the current year, so don't think that you missed it if we are in 2014 or 2045 or something.

THE 2015 UPDATE IS NOW AVAILABLE! WAHOO! Click above or on the picture to download! :)

Cheers!

-MrHughes :0)