Pinecone Pom-pom Mobiles

It’s hard to believe that these pinecone pom-pom mobiles were made by children. They did everything, from painting the pinecones and beads, to making the pom-poms, to stringing it all together. (I just did the very last part tying them onto the ring.) Children are so capable. And these mobiles are just stunning!

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Supply List for Pinecone Pom-pom Mobiles

~ pinecones (I collected mine from the ground in the Spring in Connecticut, but you can buy them, too)

~ tempera paints (mix with a little white to make them more opaque to cover brown pinecones)

~ small piece of cardboard for pom-pom maker

~ yarn & scissors

~ wooden beads

~ liquid watercolor or palette watercolor

~ wooden rings

Step One: Paint the pinecones

~ I set out jars of tempera paint (I use a variety of different brands, and usually I mix them with a little bit of white to make the color more opaque), I put a paint brush in each jar, and let the kids paint.

~ The pinecones had to dry overnight. In the meantime, we made the pom-poms.

Step Two: Make the pom-poms

1. Cut a small rectangle from cardboard. Mine was 4″ X 6″. Then cut an opening in the middle, going a little more than halfway down.

2. Wrap the yarn around the side with the opening. I told the kids to just keep wrapping. When they thought they were done, I said to wrap 10 more times. The more you wrap, the fluffier the pom-pom.

3. Use the opening to tie a piece of yarn around the middle. Tie it really tight, using your child’s finger to hold it down while making a double knot.

4. Cut the pom-pom off of the cardboard by cutting the ends.

5. Trim the pom-pom into something more round. We call this part giving the pom-pom a haircut.

Step Three: Paint the wooden pieces

~ I set out liquid watercolor, but you can easily use a regular watercolor palette. I also provided toothpick so the kids who didn’t want their fingers to get dirty could put the bead on the toothpick first and then just hold the toothpick while painting.

Step Four: Tie them all together

~ This step was hard to photograph as I was helping the kids and couldn’t pick up my camera. Basically, we cut a long piece of yarn, tied it around the bottom of the pinecone ( I mostly did this part) so that the pinecone was dangling upside-down. Then the kids strung the beads. Then I tied them all to the ring.