Swallows are migratory birds that fly in groups when they move from site to site. At the migratory season, usually you can see many of them flying together and they nearly always make their nests in colonies. In Catalonia, swallows tend to arrive on April or May, and they go back to Africa when the summer ends in September.

Probably you will see the swallow nests under the roof, porches or balconies of your own town. It is very funny to see them fluttering around the nests when they bring food to their little ones... :)

Enjoy these birds all year, not only in the summer time, and make your own “Swallows Mobile”! Ready?

The mobile will consist of 7 pieces: 1 big cloud, 2 little clouds, and 4 swallows.

MATERIAL

• 1 black A3 cardstock
• 4 white sheets of A3 cardstock
• Tracing paper
• Red marker
• Glue stick
• Fishing thread

STEP BY STEP

First of all, download the templates with the swallows and cloud designs. Print them on A4 sheets.

1. Step 1. Using the tracing paper, draw the swallows on the black A3 cardstock. Make sure to leave enough space to fit all four swallows silhouettes in this A3 paper. Cut them out and fold it in half.
2. Step 2. As we did in the past step, draw out the belly part of the swallows in a white A3 cardboard. To make a good use of the cardstock, you must distribute the pieces as shown in the illustration. You will have enough space to draw the 3 big cloud pieces and 8 swallow belly pieces. Cut the 8 pieces and fold them in half.
3. Step 3. Draw and paint the belly pieces with a red marker (both sides), as shown in the illustration. You will need two painted pieces for each swallow. Join “b” and “c” sides (not glue them!) and then glue the “a” and “d” sides on the swallow bottom.
4. Step 4. Draw the 6 big cloud pieces. Cut and fold them in half.
5. Step 5. Glue the 6 big cloud pieces by sides as shown in the illustration. Glue “b”side with “c” side. “d” side with “e” side... And so on until arrive to "l" side which you will glue back to "a" side, getting the cloud closed, and forming a circle.
6. Step 6. Draw pieces for the little clouds on the remaining white A3 cardboards. It must be 6 pieces for each cloud. Cut and fold them in half. Repeat step 5 in order to finish the little clouds.

At last, make a hole on each end of the big cloud. Also make a hole at center of each swallow and both little cloud. Then insert fishing thread through them, and hang them to the big cloud.

That's it! You can decorate your room, or hang the mobile in a sunny hallway, or above the baby's crib for your visual pleasure and mental stimulation for the baby. Ready!

TIPS AND COMMENTS

As little clouds contain many more cardstock layers than the swallows, the weight may not balance out...This is what happened to me. So, I chose to remove the two small clouds, leaving just the four swallows hanging from the big cloud. I found it to work better this way. The other option is to do the little clouds of paper instead of cardstock! :)