For this month’s Make It: Fun design team challenge, we received some of FloraCraft’s fantastic craft kits. These kits are springboards for educational and creative projects to do with your kids. Since my son has a space themed bedroom, we were drawn to the Solar System kit right off the bat. We put our own geeky twist on the solar system kit by turning it into a DIY Star Wars planet mobile!
DIY Star Wars Planet Mobile
What Do You Need to Make a Star Wars Mobile?
My son was very excited to tear into the kit and help me with my project. Instead of following the included directions and making a tabletop model, I decided to make a hanging mobile like this space mobile from The Craft Nest.
These are all affiliate links, if you make a purchase (of anything from these retailers, not just these items) after clicking through, I will earn a small commission. Ads and affiliate links are the way I am able to keep this website running and to offer you free tutorials all year long. Thank you so much for supporting me and Mad in Crafts!
- FloraCraft Solar System kit
- acrylic paint
- foam pouncers
- drinking straw
- monofilament
- wire hanger
- battery powered mini lights
- hook screw
- Star Wars ships (optional)
How Do You Paint a Planet Mobile?
To add dimension to the planets, I swirled three colors of acrylic paint together and then dabbed the foam pouncer right into the swirled paint. The swirls then transfer right to the foam planets.
I held the spheres steady, while my 6-year-old pounced on the paint.
After all the planets dried, my son and I got the whole mobile hanging up in his room. But it just didn’t feel right.
Making a Solar System Kit into a Star Wars Mobile!
My son’s Space Geek Bedroom already has a solar system on his wall, so he didn’t really need a second model of it. Plus, it nagged me that it just didn’t seem geeky enough to belong in a room with its very own TARDIS.
Just before putting my son to bed, an idea hit me. I pitched it to my son, and we decided that instead of using the foam balls to represent the REAL solar system, we would turn them into Star Wars planets! The next day I took all the planets down and repainted them to match major planets in the Star Wars mythology. Yes, I researched what each planet “really” looks like. Don’t hate.
After some trial and error, I found a quick way to hang the foam spheres using the monofilament: Skewer a hole through the middle of the larger planets with one of the dowels included in the kit. Remove the dowel, and insert a drinking straw. Thread the monofilament through the straw, and tie one end to a small button. The straw makes threading the monofilament much easier, and the button keeps the monofilament from pulling out of the hole.
Pull the straw out of the planet, and push the button up into the foam. The button will be all but hidden, and the monofilament will be very secure.
For the smaller planets, I simply threaded a needle with monofilament and poked the needle through the center. Knot off the monofilament and hang.
The structure of the mobile is made from an old wire hanger. I unbent it from its hanger shape, and then rounded the wire into a wide spiral. This gives each planet enough room to hang without knocking into each other.
Do yourself a favor when you are assembling the mobile. Suspend the wire hanger from the ceiling FIRST. Then hang the individual planets from the hanging wire. It’s so much easier than trying to attach the planets, hang the mobile without them getting tangled, and make sure everything is balanced once knots have already been tied. I know from experience on this; save yourself the frustration.
After everything has been tied to the wire spiral, snip off any excess monofilament.
For a final touch, I wrapped one string of battery powered LED lights around the wire to simulate stars. This way the mobile looks cool in daylight or in darkness.
The hanging planets turn into their own little universe. The mobile moves and spins too, which makes it look even cooler (although it makes it MUCH harder to photograph!).
Not to be a bummer, but… Alderaan, that’s no moon.
My son had two Star Wars ornaments, courtesy of my parents, that were small enough to be incorporated into the mobile. Death Star and a Star Destroyer are now orbiting around the miniature Star Wars universe.
The mobile hangs across the room from the Death Star mirror I made when we first moved into The Mad House.
The mobile also looks great in front of the no-sew space curtains that are still holding up 4 years after I made them. The glow in the dark stickers provide a great backdrop to the planets. My son’s Space Geek room didn’t really need to get any geekier, but when you’ve come this far you might as well go all the way, right?
You might like these other Star Wars DIYs:
Great post! We are linking to this great article on ouur website.
Keep up the good writing.
What an great idea to change the solar system into Star Wars planets! They look realistic and awesome. I am going to try this for my kid’s room. We are a family of Star Wars fans. Thanks for this.
So glad you like it! Thanks for the kind comment!