The football throws very far, but its nice and soft to catch. Perfect for the kids! Maybe I’ll make some velcro waist flags and teach them how to play flag football this summer in the yard. Fun!

If you want to try making one, there are instructions below, as well as a template for the panels. Game on!

Instructions below:

Using the pattern at the end of this post, cut out four panels. I had some green fabric scraps that I used for accent color. Then I sewed over the light green to make a simple decorative stitch.

Place two panels face to face (wrong-side out), and sew along one edge.

Add the third and fourth panel, sewing along the edges. Then when sewing the last seam, leave an opening, then turn the ball right-side out.

Now stuff the ball. I used regular stuffing mixed with strips cut from an old tee-shirt.

Now hand sew the hole closed, and you’re done!

Then head outside and play!

Click on the pattern below, then print.

Also, you can now print all of the Made by Joel coloring sheets from one convenient page!

Click on the images below, then print.

If you’re interested in taking a closer look at the original paintings, you can click on the image below.

If the video inspires your kids, I’ve included a coloring sheet template so they can create their own paper craft movie set. Simple instructions below!

And at the end of the post is an interesting note from Lori, where she talks about her creative process while writing the song.

Hope you all enjoy it!

Below are some behind the scenes photos of the “movie set.”

While shooting the video, I just moved the planets around with strings, while sliding the characters across the floor with paper clips and magnets. I also had to do a lot of fanning with an old record album sleeve when I needed to make the stars in the background twinkle and move.

Below you can see that I taped some of the standing props to wooden blocks. Then bent paper clips and taped them to the backs of the characters so I could slide them around with the magnets. You can easily do the same with the printable below! For the telescope, just cut it out and bend the middle leg forward a bit, and the two outside legs back slightly to make it stand up.

For the flying people and shooting star, I just attached two pieces of thread to a stick of wood or piece of cardboard, then “flew” them around.

Instructions:
1 – Print the sheet below and color it in
2 – Cut out the objects
3 – Tape thread to the back of the hanging objects. Tape standing objects (the big sun ray) to a block to stand it up. Then cut out the people and tape them to a bent paper clip, or print out another copy and attach a second set of people to two pieces of thread so you can fly them around. (See above images.)
4 – Finally, find a box and tape the objects to the inside top of the box to hang your planets and stars. You can even use magnets to slide the paper clip people around on the floor of the box.

Template below: Click on the image, then print.

Note from Lori:

I love the haunting melody of Saint James Infirmary and have wanted to introduce it to children for a long time. A couple years ago, I began creating some lyrics better-suited for kids but found I couldn’t quite explain this big idea I was feeling, so I kept coming back to it every few months. It had been rolling around in my mind all this time when I came across a quote from Neil deGrasse Tyson that included, almost word for word, the first line of my lyrics:

“I look up at the night sky, and I know that, yes, we are part of this Universe, we are in this Universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts is that the Universe is in us. When I reflect on that fact, I look up—many people feel small, because they’re small and the Universe is big, but I feel big, because my atoms came from those stars.”

Reading his quote, I had an aha moment and finished the song soon after that. Most of my songs come quickly, so you can imagine it was a very good feeling to have this song come together after working on it for over two years. Hearing it now while watching my brother’s abstractly transcendent take on the human fascination with the stars, it feels like the melody really wanted to go here. We sparkle and we marvel…

xoxo Lori

Here is a round-up of 5 baby crafts that I’ve posted. So take a look and start making something for any babies you know! Great for presents too!

Modern Paper Mobile for Babies
The contrasting black and white shapes in this mobile are perfect for infants’ undeveloped vision. There is a printable for the shapes, so it’s fast and easy to make. Your baby will love it!

DIY Baby Sun Ray Toy
When your baby is starting to hold onto things, this toy is very easy to grab on to and explore.

Design Felt Board for Babies
If your baby has older siblings, they will love arranging the different shapes on this felt board for your infant to look at with their developing vision.

Infant Car Seat and Stroller Toys
Easy to make felt car seat and stroller toys.

DIY Baby Socks
Repurpose your socks to create a pair of baby socks.

We’ve been having a hilarious time coming up with rescue scenes that Copterman can star in. And I apologize for the cheesy video. The kids made me do it! (There’s also a very quick how-to at the end.)

Printable Template below if you want to have some superhero action!

UPDATE: TEMPLATE NOW INCLUDES COPTERWOMAN!

Template: Click on the image below, then print. (Each template makes two Helicopters.)

I actually got the idea for this card a few months ago, but I never had the time to figure it all out. Then recently, my editor sent me a wonderful Pop-Up Cards book by Mari Kumada, and there were instructions for a sliding card in it. (Great book by the way. Tons of cool card ideas!)

If you’d like to try making one, there is a printout below, and also a short how-to video.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Click on the image below, then print. (I used matte photo paper, but any paper will work.)

Our twins just turned six this month, and they’ve been weaving all week – even bringing it into the car to work on. It’s really fun, but also great for improving dexterity and concentration.

So far we’ve been using the weavings as little rugs for our dollhouse furniture, but I’d love to hear more ideas for what to do with them. And of course, you can make different sizes – maybe coasters, or bookmarks?

If you’d like to try it out, there are step by step directions below.

Happy weaving!

See photo below for instructions.

1 – Get a piece of cardboard for the “loom”. Any size will do, but ours was about 3×5 inches. Using scissors, make some cuts along two opposite edges. My cuts were a little less than 1/2 inch apart.
2 – Take some yarn, and tape the end to the back of the cardboard, then fitting the yarn into the notches, wrap the yarn around the cardboard. To do this, you want to wrap around the cardboard tab, then go down the opposite side to make the long lines (see photo 3) where you will weave.
3 – This is what the front will look like.
4 – Next, take a length of yarn and tape one end to the back of the cardboard loom. The other end will be threaded through the loom. I found that if you wrap a piece of tape around the end of the yarn, it’s much easier to thread it. I’ve also seen people use a large needle, but I like tape better for kids.
5 – Now start threading the yarn in an over under pattern, back and forth across the loom. (Note – if your child skips some threads or makes a mistake, it’s fine. I just like to let them roll with it and have fun.)
6 – When you run out of thread, you can continue with a different color if you’d like. I tied the new color to the end of the old color, but I think you can just weave the “tails” in, if you’d like. Knots seemed to be easier for the kids.
7 – After the weaving is done, turn over the cardboard, and take off the pieces of tape that are holding down the ends of the yarn.
8 – Now peel off the loops of yarn over the tabs along one side of the weaving.
9 – Then slide the other side of the weaving off over the other tabs.
10 – This is what it will look like when you take it off the loom.
11 – Gently pull the loops of yarn that were on the tabs, one at a time, so you can tighten down the edges of the weaving.
12 – Now tie a knot around each of the four loose ends, then cut off the extra threads of yarn. Finished!

I’m sure you all know how to make paper snowflakes, but there are instructions below if you’d like. With kids, I usually do 4 pointed snowflakes, as opposed to 6, because it’s easier for them to cut through the paper layers. However, I’ve never seen a paper snowflake that I didn’t like!

For our snowflakes, we did large ones with full sheets of paper, and small ones, with half sheets of paper.

See photo below for instructions.

1 – Fold bottom left corner up to the right side of the paper edge.
2 – Fold bottom right corner up to the left side.
3 – Fold in half down the middle.
4 – You’re going to cut off the bottom tip, where all of the folded paper is. You can do a rounded edge, or straight cut, or angled cut. Each will make a different snowflake shape.
5 – Cut the bottom tip off.
6 – Now make whatever decorative cuts you’d like. Experiment with all ideas you can think of!
7 – Unfold the snowflake!
8 – Flatten under some heavy books. (optional)
9 – Finished! (We hung ours from the ceiling with thread and clear tape. Fast and simple!)

The concentration…

…and excitement!

So far the kids are really enjoying it, and our youngest one keeps grabbing the sheep and saying “ba ba ba!”

Happy Holidays!
Joel

You can see more Made by Joel winter holiday crafts, including the Hanukkah and Christmas Dressy Cats play sets.

Also, don’t forget to always encourage your kids to draw their own if they’re in the mood! My son wanted to try it out, and he made this wonderful scene below. I love it!

Click on the templates below, then print.

Side notes:
For those of you familiar with Paper City figures, you might notice that this time, I decided to try an easier version for standing up the people. Kids should find it much easier to cut them out on their own and stand them up. Let me know what you think!

Also, after folding the figures in half, I decided to make small curved cuts at the top of their heads to round them out a bit. You can try that too if you’d like. (See photos above.)

Finally, I printed these on matte photo paper, but any paper will work great.

And of course these days I can’t resist turning everything into a toy. I’ve already started making a tiny play kitchen set based off of some of utensils from the sign. The kids have been doing tons of cooking lately, both play and imaginary. Nice!

Cutting the animal shapes out and putting them together was just the right amount of challenge for the kids. They were quite focussed, and really enjoyed seeing them stand up when they finished. After getting the hang of it, my son started making his own creations, including a Jabba the Hut and Luke Skywalker. Cool! (See photo below)

Making them is easy. Just cut out a body shape and two legs. Then cut slots so you can stand them up. There is a template below, or you can make your own designs. If you use a thicker paper, then you might need to cut your slots slightly wider so the feet stay straight.

After you finish, you can take them apart and put them in a little box or envelope. Then you can take them on the go to restaurants, etc. Nice!

Template: Click on the image below, then print.

Here is a look at the wooden version if you’d like.

I tried to simplify the design as much as possible so that it would be fast and simple to make.

If you want to try it out, there are directions and a printable template below! Once it’s done, then you or your kids can paint and decorate it!

Happy Thanksgiving!

First, print out the template below, then cut out the two shapes, place them on some cardboard, and trace around the edges.

Then using a craft knife or scissors, cut out the two shapes

Now slide the two pieces together, and paint or decorate your turkey however you’d like! (I just painted mine with non-toxic acrylic paint (see my favorite tools), but it would also be fun to glue feathers on it etc.)

Template: Click on the image below, then print.

As a child, I remember lying on my Grandparent’s living room floor and being able to pull things off the shelf that looked like decorations, but really they were toys. Domino sets in wooden boxes lined with felt, and cool wooden puzzles by Enzo Mari. With that in mind, I decided to make the wooden turkey with slots, so it can be taken apart and put back together like a puzzle.

My son has been playing with it quite a bit, and has also put it together many different ways, making some pretty entertaining turkey variations. He thinks we should paint it too. Might be a good idea! Maybe I’ll make another one to paint.

I created a barrette holder for my daughter using the goat drawing for inspiration. I used a combination of embroidery and wool felt cut-outs to create the picture. Once completed, I used it to make a small pillow and attached three ribbons in the middle that hang down a foot or so to attach the barrettes.

For my next projects, I moved onto embellishing t-shirts. I love making these for my daughter and they make cute little gifts.

Using a washable fabric pen, I traced the embroidery pattern onto a pre-washed t-shirt, to avoid any shrinking after the design was in place. Then I put the t-shirt, along with a piece of tear away fabric stabilizer, into the embroidery hoop. Next, I picked my colors and embroidered away! Some of the smaller patterns are easily done in just a few hours. When the embroidery was all done I tore off the fabric stabilizer. Last, I put the shirt through the wash to get the marker off and voila! Super cute, fun and quick. Happy stitching!

(If you’re new to embroidery and want to give it a try, check out the guest post tutorial by Wendi Gratz: Embroidery How-To For Beginners Of All Ages | Made by Joel)

Very short movie below if you want to see it in action!

There’s a template below with instructions if you want to try it out. All you need is paper, tape, thread, and a stick or strip of cardboard for the handle. I printed mine directly onto black paper and could still see the cut lines. Then we colored the bat with a white crayon.

You can also see if your child wants to draw their own bat to cut out for a puppet!

Click to see all Halloween toys and crafts

Click on the image below, then print.

I used some poplar wood that I had in the garage. Then I got some wheels at a hardware store. It took just an afternoon to make. It kind of turned out looking like a vintage motorhome.

So far little E is quite interested in it, and especially likes putting toys inside the cargo area. I think after a bit of practice, she’ll be zooming around all over the place. The twins however, and really testing out how fast it can go. It’s pretty funny. I might need to make two more in a larger size.

Have a great day!

Click on the image below, then print.

Simple directions below if you want to try it out.

First off, I cut out a Y shaped piece of plywood with my scroll saw. (Any size Y should work fine. No need to measure.) Then I drilled a small hole on each side of the Y. I let my son do the sanding. Then we threaded some elastic band through the holes and tied knots to secure it. (A rubber band would also work, but it might shoot harder than the elastic, and also could break more easily.)

For the paper arrows, we just cut small rectangles of magazine paper, folded them a few times lengthwise, and bent them in half.

We cut larger rectangles of thick magazine covers for the targets. Then folded one end to make them stand up. (See above photo.)

Now, ready to launch!