7.15.2013

How to Make a Glow in the Dark Kids Mobile

This is a sponsored post written by be on behalf of Plaid Kids Crafts and Blueprint Social. I was not paid to write this post but was provided products. All of my opinions are my own.
This summer I get to be part of the Summer Kids Crafting Street Team. That means I get to show you some really cool projects and products to keep the little ones entertained this summer. This week the kids and I made glow-in-the-dark mobiles for their rooms thanks to Plaid Kids Crafts and using only a few supplies.

Supplies
  • Craft Paint - I used Apple Barrel neon and glow-in-the-dark paints, but any paints you have are fine
  • Plaid Glow-Away - This is what is really going to make everything glow
  • Small Wood Crafts - I got these in the craft section and they were all really cheap... averaging 50 cents a piece.
  • String
  • Wood dowels (or sticks from your yard!)
  • Hot glue
  • Drill
  • Anything else you'd like to decorate your mobile with. I used stencils and Mod Podge too.

Step 1
Set the kids free painting their wood pieces in a paint-friendly area. Plaid craft products are safe for kids so you can really let them go wild. We headed outside on the porch even though it was raining. Quite relaxing actually :)
I find using paper plates is the best way to give the kids paint. Easy clean up! (Note the rain, ha)
 They had so much fun painting all their pieces. We had a mix of 2-D and 3-D shapes. (Did you catch my Starbucks there?)
We used Plaid letter stencils to put their initials on a few pieces too.

Step 3
Add Glow-Away. Once the craft paint was dry, we coated everything in the Glow Away Gel.
It does dry a little milky/chalky, but the glow factor is worth it.

Step 4
Drill holes. Once the Glow-Away was dry, we drilled little holes in all our pieces to tie the strings to. You could probably get away with hot gluing the strings to the pieces too if you don't have a drill. Either way will work.

Step 5
Glue your sticks together. I crossed my 2 sticks and hot glued them in place. Then I wrapped the joint in ribbon and hot glued that too.

Step 6
Add strings to all the pieces and tie them to the sticks. Try and balance the weight as best you can. This will help the mobile hang straight.

Step 7
Add a string to the middle and hang. It was pretty easy to get it to hang straight by sliding the pieces down the sticks until the weight was distributed evenly.
By day...
By night...
And, they both couldn't wait to turn their lights off last night and go to bed to see their creations glow! I realize that won't last, but I will enjoy it for now! How cool :)
If you're looking for more summer kids crafts, connect with Plaid and be inspired.


3 comments :

  1. Super cute! Looks like they had fun and I'm sure they both look forward to going to bed now just to see their mobiles glow!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is so fun!! I love it!!
    Love this Plaid Crafts project and seeing everyone's fun links. :)

    ReplyDelete