It was a surprise to me when a very kind reader from Italy told me that Italian Vanity Fair did a small feature on Made by Joel in their September issue. And she even mailed me a copy! I’m on the “Style Tecno” page as an alternative entertainment to video games and television. For those […]
Last October my son was 2 1/2 years old and loved asking me to draw “scary cats.” See below. (I tried to make them as friendly as possible while still satisfying his requests for more claws and teeth.) So this year I thought it would be fun to use the drawings for another match game. Just draw […]
Artist Hazel Terry recently told me about Science Toy Maker, which is a site run by a brilliant technology educator and filled with great toy projects including this oscillating woodpecker. It’s such a fun toy! Easy enough for my 3 year old kids to use. Yet, there are some adjustments that can be made, such as how tight or […]
I recently scored a free box of wood scraps and in it was this fabulous old cedar block. I decided to paint it and turn it into a “city block”. I think it might be a good block for the Vintage Wood Figures to hang out with.
The idea for this came into my head a couple of weeks ago. I’m probably not the first one to do it, but it’s quite fun to play with. Similar to a marble labyrinth, only much easier, which makes it great for younger kids. Just set the marble on the small start hole, then get […]
I’ve been wanting to try a paper cut-out mobile and ended up making this owl. It was an interesting design challenge, trying to make it look good no matter how the pieces spun, and the mobility gives the owl a lot of character. I think I’ll put it in the kid’s room. I only used […]
I’m excited to say that I’ve just shipped my first set of The Land of Me toy prototypes off to London. I’m having such a great time working with the people at Made in Me, and I can’t wait to see how this first set turns out. Production is going to start in just a […]
My first craft column appeared in the new issue of LMNOP magazine today. Pull toys have been making a come-back in our house, so I decided to make some box pull toys that slide across the floor. They turned out to be really fun and very easy to make. There are full instructions in the […]
Jack and Tess have always loved swings. One of their favorite activities in my art room is swinging the climbing gorilla toy that I made over a year ago. So now I’ve added another swing to the mix. A very simple one using bent wire and wood scrap. I made it so the guy comes […]
This puzzle is over a year old, but we just got it out again. My son has been a big puzzle fan since age two. This was a wooden one that I had, but the design on it was all green leaves, which made it very difficult to solve, even for me. So I painted […]
La Petite Magazine released their new online issue today that features some paper dollhouses I made. I had a lot of fun designing different houses and little pieces of furniture. Then I put them all in a mint tin so they can be played with on the go. If you want to try it out, […]
The kids love collecting things while playing outside, so we made a little mobile with some of their treasures. It was very easy to make. I just used thread to tie the items onto the stick, then tied fishing line to each end of the stick to hang the mobile from. We had fun pressing […]
Ohdeedoh recently asked me to participate in a short interview to celebrate Learning at Home month. They asked a few people about their favorite children’s book, illustrator and more. If you want to check it out, click here!
A few days ago I made these little puppets with paper clips and cardboard. The kids were really coming up with some entertaining stories for them. If you want to try it out, they’re very simple to make. First, bend the middle of a paper clip so it stands up. Then cut out the puppets, […]
A couple of years ago we bought some Stockmar Beeswax Crayons, and they came with a little plastic tool for doing Sgraffito. Sgraffito comes from the Italian word sgraffiare (“to scratch”), and the technique works great with crayons. All you do is make a light color background, then color a dark layer (black is best) over the […]
My nephew Leo is turning four. Last year I made him a trumpet. This year he has developed a fascination for catfish, so a few days ago I decided to try and make him one. We just gave it to him today at the party. He liked it!
The London based company, Made in Me, has invited me to design some toys with them. They are a fantastic group of people who focus on creating “interactive experiences that inspire kids to play and learn.” I’ve already begun working on some wooden toys for them. Below there are a couple photos of me working […]
We’ve got a lot of birthdays coming up, so I thought I’d share my favorite way for wrapping presents, using pages out of my old art magazines. I’m sure a lot of you do this sort of thing too. I also like cutting little pieces of painted paper for decorations. p.s. The deadline for my […]
Here are a few things we’ve been enjoying in the great weather we’ve had this month: The kids really love riding their bicycles on our driveway. Last week we spiced things up by drawing a track with some sidewalk chalk. They love practicing their turns while trying to stay in the lines. I was impressed […]
