Pull out our pack of R15203 Decorative Hues Paper and make no-glue exquisite birds for your classroom mobile!

These lovely creatures are made with a simple technique that uses layers of decorative paper strips to make contours of the bird body. The best part about this craft is that it’s ENTIRELY GLUE FREE! The only things you’ll need to keep the birds’ bodies in place are paperclips. I love when craft ideas give you the maximum creative result with the least amount of mess.

Duration: 15-20 minutes

Age: 5-10

You’ll need:

• R15203 Decorative Hues Paper

• Paperclips

• String

• Hole punch

• Wire hanger

• Scissors

• Ruler

I really love mobiles. They look great in a classroom as a ceiling decoration and give the kids something unique to look at. Children can learn a lot about the function of kinetics in our everyday world just by observing the mobile twirling in one spot. Air particles are constantly moving around us and tend to push against the mobile and therefore always keep it in motion. I suggest using a wire hanger because it’s the most easiest form of a mobile base you can come across. I didn’t show this step but you can decorate the wire hanger with ribbons or cutout leaves to match the attached birds.

Set out all your materials so you can see what you’ll need. You can choose to make your birds out of an assortment of colors or select one color of the decorative paper to work with.

Turn the paper horizontally and fold the paper lengthwise in half. Fold it once more in half. Unfold the paper and you will find 3 lengthwise creases that separate the paper into 4 strips. You can use a ruler and a pencil to draw a line along the crease and give children a guide for cutting.

Cut along the lines so that you have 4 long strips of decorative paper.

Put all the strips of paper together. Turn the top 2 strips so that the decorative sides face up while the bottom 2 strips’ decorative sides face down. Join all the strips on one side with a paper clip.

This next part is a bit tricky. Use one hand to pinch the strips together about 2″ below the paperclip. While still holding the strips together with one hand, use your other hand to gently pull the topmost strip above the rest. Don’t pull it all the way from your grip! Just enough to make a higher curve over the rest of the paper strips. Repeat the same motion for the next two strips below it, but stagger the paper strips so you can see each of them individually. Ta-Da! You just made the bird’s head!

Place a paperclip across the point where you were pinching the paper strips together.

Lift up the bird and turn it upside down to make the body. Pinch the paper strips with one hand at about 3″ below the second paperclip. Repeat the same steps as you did for making the head, but make the curves about twice as large.

Once you get the body to be the size you want it to be, secure the spot you’ve been pinching with a paperclip.

You’ll notice that the bird’s tail is formed at different lengths. Since you made differently-sized curves with the same lengths of strips, the tail end of the paper strips should appear staggered. Use the end of a ruler to curl the ends of the tail. Place your thumb on the underside of the strip and hold the ruler against the top side. Make a scraping motion with the ruler and pull your thumb over the strip as it curls.

It should look something like this! It looks a bit like a quilling curl.

Curl the top two strips upwards and curl the bottom two strips down. You’re almost finished!

Next, punch a hole through the top strip of the bird’s body. I’d recommend you place the hole in the center, as this is where you’ll tie the string to hang the bird. If you want the birds facing at certain angles, just punch the hole closer to the bird’s head to make it face upwards or closer to its tail to make it face downwards.

Tie a length of string to the hole and attach the other end to the wire hanger. You can see here that the birds come in a variety of colors! You can even add more strips to the bird if you wish. Just be sure that you practice making the bird with only 4 strips first!

All ready for decorating your classroom or kids’ playroom! You can see the bird that’s made with 6 strips. It’s right in the center of the mobile!

Did you decorate your wire hanger mobile base? I’d love to see what your finished birds looked like too! Please send us your photos to be featured in one of our posts! Contact us through the contact form. We’d love to hear from you!