From a very young age, children start to learn and adapt to their surroundings. How great it would be if they could engage with colors and shapes even before learning how to sit up? The answer is pretty simple, a crib mobile.
I hate it when children start crying out of boredom, I mean, what can I do to improve the situation? These hanging toys for infants not only help improve their cognitive skills but also help engage the baby, keeping them quiet and busy. It also stimulates their senses, majorly resulting in visual stimulation. This gives you plenty of time to complete your chores while the baby chuckles away in his little cot.
Today, my article mainly focuses on the things that hang over baby cribs – majorly crib mobiles. Without further ado, let’s get on with the article!
if you want to know how important are baby mobiles then click here to read a full guide on them.
Are Hanging Toys for Cribs Necessary?
While most people tend to think that crib mobiles are a waste of time, I strongly disagree. They’re not educationally great but are also a great source of cognitive learning as well as a tool to play with. Since it is used majorly for infants that can’t hold any toy up, it is a great source of happiness and fascination for the babies.
Yes, hanging musical toys for babies is necessary to help your child grow up soundly and wisely.
In a Hurry? We Choose Best Overall Cribs Mobiles After Our Editor Research
Comparison Table of Things That Hang Over Baby Cribs
List of Best 5 Things That Hang Over Baby Cribs
Looking for the best things to hang over your baby’s crib? Whether you’re decorating a nursery or just want something extra special for your little one, you’ve come to the right place! Here, we’ve rounded up the best five crib hangings that can give any nursery an attractive touch. They are all safe, comfortable and stylish, so your baby can enjoy them without worry. We’ve made sure to find the most creative and unique items, so you can get the perfect crib décor for your little love. So, let’s take a look at the list of the best five things that hang over baby cribs.
1. Tiny Love Meadow Soothe n Groove Baby Mobile
Tiny love has the best brain development products for families – parents and their cute little rays of sunshine. Their sole focus is to help your child grow and develop with the best resources at hand. This is why their meadow soothe n groove model is not only pleasing to the eyes but helps with neural development too.
Design
The design of this little guy is pretty simple yet innovative. It is a mixture of colors and characters that help keep the baby fascinated and quiet. The mobile grows along with the baby. It starts as a musical mobile with the crib however, later it can be turned into a stand-alone music box. Simply remove it from above the crib and it is good to go!
It also plays music, a pretty standard feature in most mobiles nowadays. What’s different is that it has a unique speaker design, consisting of two high-quality speakers. These provide sweet clear sound and help control the volume easily.
The Psychological Effect on the Baby
This mobile has a soothing mobile motion that is specifically designed to create a calming motion. This results in a much relaxed and quieter baby. The mobile also promotes better sleep due to its soft nightlights that aren’t too harsh on the baby.
What I love the most about the mobile are its cute Meadow Days characters that appear and disappear above the baby’s head, keeping him in awe. This helps promote the idea of object permanence as the disappearing and reappearing establish the concept similar to that of a peek-a-boo game.
As the baby will grow older, he will begin to press the music box’s various buttons. This enables your little one to learn about the wonders of cause aka pressing a button and effect – music and lights.
Additional Traits
The mobile also offers some entertaining choices. It gives 6 different musical options with a total of 18 engaging melodies to keep your baby engaged and prevent boredom or monotony. It soothes and amuses your baby with 40 minutes of uninterrupted music before the battery tires out.
Choose between calming tunes for naptime or more energetic music for playing, or you could even put the playlist on shuffle for an interesting turn of events.
Pros & Cons
2. Let’s Make Felt Ball Ceiling Mobile
One of my favorites, this felt ball ceiling mobile is so dainty and delicate, it would work even as a centerpiece if not mobile. Its neutral tones go with just about any nursery. What I love the most about this product is how it is made of environment-friendly products.
Design
Every element of this mobile bed bell pendant is made from the best materials that will cause zero damage to your little ones so be assured at all times. It is made with environmentally friendly hypoallergenic felt with hypoallergenic fillers that do not travel up your baby’s nose.
Let’s make the brand only constructs environmentally friendly materials that pay attention to your baby’s health above everything else. The felt ball bed bell is lightweight and can keep your baby calm and help your baby fall asleep easily.
The Psychological Effect on the Baby
This beautiful little grey mobile with little balls and toys is the most adorable thing ever! What gets my approval is that it helps in your baby’s mental, emotional, and physical development through high-contrast stimulation and hand-eye coordination.
The sound and rotation help with cognitive development while the melodies help with emotional development. The baby tries to grasp the toys and that improves motor, physical development.
Additional Traits
This simple yet lovely design is bound to look beautiful in all settings. Its understated, classic design would also look fabulous in your home or anywhere the baby goes. Whether buying for your nursery or deciding to give it off as a gift, it will be a perfect choice.
The artisans made these handmade baby mobiles one by one through a detailed and delicate process, part of the reason why this mobile is a success.
Pros & Cons
3. Marumine Baby Musical Crib Mobile
If you’re looking for a temporary natural baby mobile, here is your product. This mobile can be used temporarily and then converted into normal mobile toys for infants that they can shake around and play with. This super cute mobile is easy to assemble and comes at a low price!
Design
Perhaps the cutest design on my list of mobiles today, this pink little toy has little detachable chicks dangling all over the place. It has music, which heightens the senses of the baby and keeps him busy. It also has a rotation feature, a night light function that gives a soft glow that helps the baby to sleep soundly, and cute little pendants hanging from the toy.
This little music box works with the help of just a touch button. You just need to touch the button lightly, and that will help change the function. It is super easy to use and has vivid and bright colors.
The Psychological Effect on the Baby
The mobile has a touching and soothing effect on babies. It includes soft melodies as well as nature’s sounds. It also has a baby’s laughter & white sounds. The white noise makes the baby feel similar to the feeling that he feels in the mother’s stomach, which creates a sense of belonging. This results in letting the baby fall asleep faster and more soundly.
Additional Traits
The mobile is crafting at its best. It has 4 colors of night light including red, blue, green, and white, choose the color which makes your baby feel at ease. The colors operate with the help of a button. Just click the button and it will help change the color.
The night light is accompanied by sweet music or sounds playing along which help comfort your baby. This is especially helpful in quiet times or nap time. The distance from the baby to the pendants is moderate hence does not damage the eyesight of the baby. The adorable cartoon toys rotate a full 360 degrees. This attracts the baby’s attention and keeps him engaged. It also enables the baby to exercise his eyesight.
The power on/off feature as well as the rotating is controlled with just a simple power button. It has 21 light music with all kinds of music. The volume of the sound is also controlled through a button.
Pros & Cons
4. The Peanutshell Crib Mobile
The Peanutshell not only specializes in baby products but beddings and gifts as well. Their crib mobile is the perfect tool to give as a gift. If you’re looking to easily hang a mobile above a crib, this is your pick as it is easy to assemble and eleven easier to locate and attach.
Design
This particular mobile is a bit gender-specific. The delicate flowers, in shades of pink and white, are meant for little girlies in their sweet and cozy pink nurseries. The mobile is super delicate as each flower is made of soft felt with dimensional petals and leaves. It is embellished with embroidered details, and all of this hangs below from a central ring with soft pink velvet.
What’s in for parents is that the assembling is super easy and fast.
The Psychological Effect on the Baby
The toy promotes auditory development through its different music, motor development through movement of the mobile, and visual stimulation. This occurs when the mobile rotates and the flowers change their positions, taking along with them the eyes of the baby.
Additional Traits
The little moving crib mobile is digital and not wind-up which saves your effort. The music box plays little parts of 12 different lullabies which can be changed simply through the touch of a single button. It is designed to fit all standard cribs, so do not worry about what kind of crib you have. A bassinet or a mini-crib will fit all! Also, it is really easy to spot clean.
Pros & Cons
5. Lambs And Ivy Jungle Safari Musical Crib Mobile
The last on my list today is the Lambs and Ivy jungle safari musical crib. Founded in 1980, they have since strived to make our lives a little fancier and a whole lot of efficient. As the name suggests, this beautiful little mobile consists of small animal plushies that help soothe the baby and improve his brain development.
Design
My favorite one on the list today, this adorable mobile has lots of plushies that just capture my heart away. The cute little plush animals are full of details that you and your baby are sure to enjoy. Even the most minute things have been given equal attention such as furry manes and multiple embroideries.
The ring top is 2.5 inches high and has a set of fluffy embroidered white velvet clouds that add a hint of royalty to the baby crib hanging thing. The whole set is a beautiful gray designed to match the cool tones of your nursery. The music box is printed with gray and tan leaves, setting a beautiful base. While the scrunchie covering the arm is a soft gray one.
The Psychological Effect on the Baby
It provides great visual and auditory stimulation for babies through its sound lullabies and beautiful little plushies that spin around. The mobile automatically spins while the soothing music helps the baby fall fast asleep – the simplest sleeping solution.
This promotes brain development and helps the baby soothe himself to sleep, saving you a lot of trouble and time. This promotes independence from a very young age.
Additional Traits
The device also has volume control and an on/off switch provided for ease of use. The mobile easily attaches to most standard cribs which means you won’t have to look any further! Its primary job is to provide entertainment and enjoyment as well as soothe the baby. This will make sure to help the baby fall asleep immediately.
The battery-powered music box spins the mobile while it plays 3 soothing songs that include the Brahms Lullaby, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Rock-A-Bye Baby (my favorite one when I was a kid).
This mobile plays for 20 minutes maximum before tiring out. It has an on/off switch and volume control as well.
Pros & Cons
My Pick
Although all the products on my list are pretty exceptional, I have to admit I do have a personal favorite. It is the let’s make felt ball ceiling mobile.
The design is pretty simple and easy to assemble. The balls are hand constructed from felt with little jingly bells on the below that give special care to auditory sensors. The product is eco-friendly and is safe to use around a baby.
Buying Guide
Now you have become familiar with some of the crib accessories like the thing that hangs over baby crib – a mobile, it would be easier buying one. However, color and budget aren’t the only things you need to consider when buying a crib mobile.
Although these are pretty inexpensive, there are other aspects you need to consider before selecting the appropriate one for your baby. Let’s take a look at some of the tips below.
Does It Move?
The first thing you need to check is whether your crib mobile is window operated or is mechanically operated. This might seem a measly consideration; however, it is quite important. Stationary mobiles and standstill are of little interest to the baby. The baby will get bored of them after a while.
If the mobile is window operated, it will be a little harder to make it function since you cannot keep the windows to your little one’s nursery open at all times. If it is mechanically operated, you just need to change the batteries and no more troubles!
Direction of Movement
Another surprising fact, the direction of the movement of the thing that hangs above the crib is very important. This is so because if the mobile moves in just a single direction, the baby is bound to grow bored of it. It will become monotonous and lose all its charm.
If the mobile moves clockwise as well as anti-clockwise, my friend, here is your pick!
Types of Toys
The types of toys hanging on the spinning thing above the baby crib are necessary for the motor skills as well as the cognitive skills of the baby. If the toys are small then the baby will try to grasp those hence improving his motor skills. If the toys are vibrantly colored and are of different shapes then the baby will subconsciously learn those hence improving his cognitive skills.
Type of Crib
Normal cribs are large enough to look pretty with a mobile hanging on top. Small cribs like mini cribs or bassinets and double bassinets, however, are really small hence cannot accommodate a regular large mobile.
In such situations, go for smaller mobiles like take up less space horizontally so that they fit well along the width of your crib.
The Theme of Your Nursery
Always choose a mobile depending on the theme of your nursery. If it has bright and vivid colors, go for a similar one. This will help keep the baby awake and fresh. If the nursery is a minimalist one with low to almost no decorations, go for a plain mobile. As long as it serves its purpose, it is good to go!
Musical Mobiles
Music helps with the cognitive and sensory development of your baby. It helps keep them engaged and busy as well as aid sleep through sweet melodies. When you get a mechanically powered mobile, it is quite evident that you will get music along with the set.
If you aren’t such a big fan of music yet want some noise, you can get mobiles with chimes that work like wind chimes.
Your Baby’s Perspective
What you see and what your baby sees are two completely different things. If you buy a long mobile that has vertical levels of baby hanging toys on the crib one below the other, it will only look good to you and confusing to your baby. Buy cribs mobiles that have a circular hinging design so that the twirling of the toy fascinates your baby and every single toy is in view.
Where You are Intending to Hang Your Mobile
Where to situate a mobile in a crib? The answer is pretty simple, just above the head of the baby, near to a wall so that it will be easy to hang. Is it plausible to hang things over a crib? As long as you secure it firmly, it is completely okay.
The mobile you decide to attach should be the perfect size for the place you are intending to hang it on. The rod should be long enough, the mobile should be an appropriate size and the length should be just right. Consider all these things before getting one.
The Length of the Crib
Are crib mobiles safe? That’s the first question that pops into every parent’s mind. The answer is pretty simple. Crib mobiles are safe as long as they are hung at an appropriate height.
Hanging them too low may result in the infant entangling in the strings as he tries to reach for it. Or the toys might hit the baby. If you hang it too high, the baby won’t even see it. Hence, determine the position wisely and get a mobile that has plenty of string to offer you as much choice as possible.
Conclusion
So, here was my list of the top 5 things that hang over baby crib and how to choose the best one. Babies are a ray of sunshine especially with their chubby baby legs that are just so adorable. You would mean no harm their way and to provide them with nothing but the best, choose a mobile wisely.
I hope this article was helpful and if it was, surely let me know in the comments below. Until next time, happy parenting!
FAQs
Q. When should you remove the mobile from the crib?
When the baby is 5 months old, he is old enough to be introduced to bigger toys that he can hold.
Q. Is it safe to hang a mobile over a crib?
Yes, it is safe to hang a mobile over a rib as long as you securely fix it in place. Do not leave any loose screws and double-check for safety.
Q. Can you hang things over a crib?
Except for crib mobiles, it is unwise to hang things above a crib. A loose screw might result in the item falling and harming the baby. So, avoid placing any frames or shelves above the crib.
