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In this issue toymaker George Pfister shapes wood into special experiences for special children.
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A Chicago Education Project student plays
with wood toy truck made by George.
Wood Toy Newswww.toymakerpress.com
August 25, 2011
“ I make my toys in the hope that a young person will embrace them and allow his imagination to transport him or her to another time or place. ” George Pfister
George Pfistershapes wood into special experiences for special children.
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“ I make my toys in the hope that a young person will embrace them and allow his imagination to transport him or her to another time or place. ”
George Pfister
3www.toymakerpress.com
I was born in 1935 in Chicago in the midst of the depression. All I remember of my early years is hunger and little else. I was the last of seven children. My father had no job and we provided our own entertainment like so many others in that time.
Toys and dental work were a low priority. While in high school I was scouted and signed to
play baseball, property of the Baltimore Orioles. However, the curve ball proved my undoing so I volunteered for the draft.
As you know, in those days almost all of us served. I spent 38 months in the U.S. Army.
“I was born in 1935 in Chicago in the midst of the depression. All I remember of my early years is hunger and little else. I was the last of seven children. My father had no job and we provided our own entertainment like so many others in that time.”
George was involved in making his own toys at an early age as were thousands of Chicago youth. This 1939 photo from Toymaker Press files shows a group of young Chicago area teenagers selling their handmade toys and crafts at a yard sale.
Depression era Chicago children playing on the streets.
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I entered school and earned my degrees at Elmhurst, Illinois College and Northern Illinois University in De Kalb, Illinois.
I spent the next 30 years in De Kalb as a teacher, counselor and administrator. My teaching experience awakened me to the individual differences in the background of our students.
My own childhood lacked closeness and I vowed that my children would not have like
circumstances. So I started to take evening classes in woodworking at our high school. I found that I loved working with wood and concentrated on toys. But my time was limited until my retirement in 1990.
My own childhood lacked closeness and I vowed that my children would not have like circumstances. So I started to take evening classes in woodworking at our high school. I found that I loved working with wood and concentrated on toys.
I entered school and earned my degrees at Elmhurst, Ilinois College and Northern Illinois University in De Kalb, Illinois. I spent the next 30 years in De Kalb as a teacher, counselor and administrator. My teaching experience awakened me to the individual differences in the background of our students.
Depression Era Chicago school boy.
I started toymaking in Northern California while working as a manager of a campground.
Since that time I have acquired a prolific library of toy books and plans including books from Toymaker Press. I started toymaking in Northern California while working as a manager of a campground. A neighbor
The campgrounds of Northern California are in pristine wilderness areas like this.
Northern Illinois University in De Kalb, Illinois.
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was a secretary for the Sonoma Country Public Health Nurses and she graciously accepted my toys for free distribution through the nurses.
When I moved to Southern California I contacted the Orange County Public Health Nurses, and they continued the distribution of toys to disadvantaged children.
In the course of honing my skills I was approached by the “Go Go Grandmothers”, a group from a local church that had adopted an African village. They asked me if I would make some toy cars for the children in this village. I did so and as you can
see from the pictures they did not know what they were. The village is so remote the children had never seen an automobile and an interpreter had to explain
what the toys were and where they originated. Most of the clothing in the pictures were brought to the village by the organization of grandmothers.
In the course of honing my skills I was approached by the “Go Go Grandmothers”, a group from a local church that had adopted an African village.
A “Go-Go Grandmother” demonstrates how an automobile works to a group of African children receiving the handmade toys.
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There are people all over, like John and Cynthia of Toymaker Press who have the advantage of modern communication and use it to encourage others.
Then I was made aware that my downs syndrome granddaughter was getting help from an organization in Plainfield, Illinois named Ready Set Ride, that provides horseback riding for a variety of disabled people of all ages.
It was explained to me that the movement (undulation) of the horse induces a calm and balancing effect on the rider. The organization holds an
annual auction to raise funds to help support the children whose parents can’t afford the money. So I took it upon myself to donate toys to the auction and was pleased at the response. Guess what? Most of the workers are volunteers. I have another granddaughter
who is on the autism spectrum attending a special school in suburban Chicago. It is the Chicago Education Project, headed by Amanda Parker and a staff that I hold in
highest regard. I am deeply moved when I experience the wonderful work they did with my granddaughter.
Her mother told me of the auction they have every August and I spoke with Ms. Parker. She told me of the need of these children so that I could try to meet those needs with my toys. So now I split my time between toys for the classrooms and toys for the auction.
I have an advantage in that I work in a shop that has many talented woodworkers who supply me with their cast off pieces that are often a perfect
Ready-Set-Ride provides George’s granddaughter a pony, a helmet and lots of fun.
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size for toys. I make other things for my family and grandchildren. I have made some small pieces of furniture, bowls, salt and pepper mills, all of which are fun. But nothing gives me more pleasure than making toys. I do not take money for my work as that would diminish my satisfaction.
To me toys are not something to be sold, toys are to be given, to be shared like friendship, like adventure.
My license plate is TOY GEO, So many Toys So little Time. I am known as the toymaker here in Laguna Woods Village, Calif. It is a niche no one else occupies.
When John or Cynthia tell me my toys are beautiful I shrug and say thank you. When Amanda from the Chicago Education Project tells me my toys are beautiful I am energized to make more and better toys. I know then, I am helping.
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Do I do this because I did not have many toys of my own? Is it because I saw in my students a void in their background? I don’t know! What I do know is that a well-made toy is cherished, if even for a given time. Some become “heirloom toys”, those that flow thru generations of children.
I make my toys in the hope that a young person will embrace it and allow their imagination to transport him or her to another time or place.
In the film, “Field of Dreams”, James Earl Jones tells Ray, “baseball has been a constant throughout the years.” I feel that toys too are a constant. A toy has that special power to transport a child to a different time, escape an abusive parent or a chance to share a special moment with a friend.
As you can see, the children in Africa develop a special bond with a simple little car with wheels. A toy is universal, transcending politics, time and travail. My work has been shown on Rivera and ABC Chicago but I have no access to that tape or even know if it still exists.
Since my retirement I have made and distributed about 2500 toys, most of which are articulated, meaning they move in some fashion: legs, head or tail. I have the good fortune to work other residents with exceptional talents and often receive their cut-offs of Walnut, Maple, Bubinga, and Mahogany woods. They tend to be my sincerest critics and the first to try the toys when I am finished. I also make trips to a special lumber yard in Santa Ana, California, when needed.
I make my toys in the hope that a young person will embrace it and allow their imagination to transport him or her to another time or place.
Wood Toy News August 25, 2011
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I dearly loved working with kids.
As a teacher I had a student named Cecilia. She wrote a letter for my Retirement Book. She asked. “Do you remember how you used to sing to me “Does your mother know you’re out, Cecilia?”I’ll always remember that.
You were my favorite teacher.” I was the first and only teacher who went to Cecilia’s home.
They lived in the seediest part of town, but they worked hard and they were poor. The fact that she remembered me 30 years later impacted me. My first 20 years in education were as if
I were in Camelot - I loved it! Then I became an administrator. Need I say more? We lose that close contact with the very thing that motivated us to education in the first place.
Thank you for your interest in reading my story. You humble me.George Pfister
www.toymakerpress.com
George uses Toymaker Press wood toy plans as a starting point for creating genius take-apart educational toys for exceptional children.
Highly creative toys with lots of built in fun are created by George using scraps of wood donated by friends.
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My license plate is TOY GEO, So Many Toys So Little Time.
George Pfister Photo Gallery
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George Pfister Photo Gallery
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George Pfister Photo Gallery
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George Pfister Photo Gallery
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