This is my third baby but my first child with whom I have used the Montessori mobiles… and the mobiles have been so wonderful for developing concentration!
In this post, I’ll introduce all 4 classic Montessori mobiles, AND give you an honest review of how much mileage you’ll get from each.
Firstly, I should say that the first three months of life is considered a symbiotic period for mother and child to bond, so we spent much more time nursing, snuggling, and babywearing, than in our infant movement area with the mobiles.
A look at our infant movement area (2 weeks old), before we hung the mobiles:
- A topponcino on top of a Persian silk carpet
- An artwork above an infant shelf (that I had custom made from recycled pallet wood to the dimensions of this sliver of wall next to my sofa)
- Top shelf: A few board books, two wooden grasping rings and black and white balloons
- Bottom shelf: secondhand pentatonic metallophone for children/ visitors to play for baby
There are four main Montessori mobiles, designed to match each stage of the infant’s visual and brain development. As always, the ages suggested below are rough guides, but follow your individual child- I have kept some of mobiles out for a few weeks longer than suggested.
Answering some questions on hanging that I get alot:
How to hang? The mobiles are meant to be hung at around 30cm from the baby’s eyes, so a regular playgym may not be tall enough. Some makers on Etsy sell taller mobile hangers for this purpose, but the most space-saving and cheapest option: I stuck a 3M ceiling hook on my ceiling (a safe distance away from my ceiling fan), and strung a ribbon from it (white or neutral colour preferable so as not to distract from the mobile)- you can look at it here.
Where to hang? A great tip from a Montessori 0-3 teacher on my Instagram is to hang the mobiles directly above baby’s belly. (If you scroll down to my picture of the green Gobbi mobile, you’ll see I placed the mobile incorrectly after cleaning the area one day. The mobile ended up above baby’s head instead of belly, so he had to crane his neck to look up at the mobile, which wasn’t very comfortable.) Placing the mobile above the belly allows optimal viewing of the mobile and encourages baby to look down.
Best place in the house? Choose somewhere with slight natural breeze. Unlike electronic mobiles with flashing lights and fast-moving parts, the Montessori mobiles are designed to drift gently. The slow movement allows your baby to track it and focus on it. My preferred spot for an infant movement area would be somewhere central like the living room, bringing baby into the heart of family life physically- I have a topponcino atop a carpet which visually demarcates the baby’s “work space”, so my older children can be there but know not to disturb or take over baby’s work.
Where not to hang? Avoid hanging it over the baby’s crib or sleeping space. The mobiles are a newborn’s work, and the work/ active play space should be separate from the sleeping space.
I have other mobiles too, that I will introduce in a separate post!
Munari Mobile (2- 5 weeks old)
Mileage: 5/5 (can be used from birth and for several weeks)
The first mobile. If you can only afford to make or buy one, this would be it.
This is made of bold black-and-white shapes, as newborns can only make out high-contrast shapes and black, grey and white.
Traditionally, a glass ball would be included, but ours came with a plastic sphere (for ease of transport I guess). Watching it spin and catch the light was nonetheless entrancing for baby.
Octahedron Mobile (5-8 weeks)
Mileage: 4.5/5 (held baby’s interest for several weeks)
The next mobile is the Octahedron. At this age, baby can make out basic colours, so the Octahedron comes in the primary colours of red, blue and yellow. Where the previous Munari mobile was 2D and monochrome, this mobile is 3D and colourful.
A special point of interest is the holographic paper and sharp angles. Because of this, the mobile held my baby’s interest waaay beyond the 8-week-old mark. This is gifted from a friend but previously, I have bought reflective origami paper to make this for friends’ babies. Many DIY patterns available online.
Gobbi Mobile (7-10weeks)
Mileage: 4/5
Baby may be able to see more colours and shades of colours. The Gobbi mobile responds to this growing visual ability, with five balls in one colour, going from darkest to lightest.
Many times, I asked my older children and guests which ball they observed baby was drawn to, and it was almost always the darkest ball that was closest to baby. We were gifted two. This one is crochet:
And this one has felted balls and was handmade by a friend, Sarah over at The Prepared Environment.
This is not the easiest DIY, unlike the other 3 mobiles, so if you are trying to save money on mobiles or you can’t thread to save your life, I would actually, very reluctantly, give this a miss. It’s so beautiful though.
(It was near Christmas so my older children strung their fairy lights on this mobile for a festive afternoon; it is not a safe or recommended way of using the mobiles! 🙂
Dancer Mobile (8-12 weeks)
Mileage: 4/5 (the only reason I didn’t rate this 4.5 is because baby was beginning to be interested in hand toys and rattles)
Baby’s colour vision is still growing, but closer to 3 months, their range of movement also expands. The Dancers mobile is perfect for this stage!
The Dancers mobile is pure art. It has abstract human shapes made of reflective paper. Because they are so lightweight, they spin faster than the other mobiles and really look like they are dancing!
At around 3mo, baby is still using the mobiles, but this age overlaps with greater hand and full body movement like turning, rolling and batting. I find the Dancers mobile such a perfect interlude for this “overlap”. We will often begin with the mobile, and when baby turns his head away from it, I then do tummy time or provide some toys he can grasp with his hands.
The 4 Montessori mobiles were gifted to me by Montessorily. You can get them here. After your baby has outgrown the visual mobiles, you can move on to the tactile mobiles. Read all about the tactile mobiles here 🙂
From looking at the Munari mobile from 2 weeks old, once every few days..
To spending 3-4 times a day under his mobiles, concentrating for 20-40min each time, it’s bittersweet for me to see how baby has grown in this fourth trimester. I cannot believe he is no longer a newborn!
Conclusion
These are the four classic Montessori mobiles you can use with your newborn.
Re mileage, my baby’s favourite (e.g. it captivated him for the longest time) was the Octahedron, and the one that I would say is a must-have and can be used earliest is the black-and-white Munari.
Pssst… Need more Montessori, from someone who’s AMI-certified for 0-12yo and taught thousands of paying clients? That’s yours truly, heh.. I’ve written an ebook that teaches you how to start setting up Montessori activities + make your existing toys more Montessori!
To get my Activity Setup ebook for free, scroll to the bottom, where it says “Need More Montessori?” Then click “CLICK TO SUBSCRIBE”.