My first project is a shameless rip-off.

I was shopping for children’s bookcases and came across an elephant-shaped one. I felt this presented a good excuse to buy a jigsaw and try my own version. I made a sketch from a reference image of an African elephant and designed it in Adobe Illustrator.

It is made from 18mm plywood and stands about 750mm (h) × 1000mm (w) × 250mm (d). The idea behind the interlocking panels was to add strength, as I expect that it will eventually be climbed on by one of my offspring. Well, that and the fact that it seemed more interesting to design and make it that way. I made sure that the panels interlocked quite tightly and then glued and screwed, so it’s pretty sturdy.

I attached it to the wall by screwing a decking screw into a stud and cutting a kind of keyhole shape (what do you call that?) so that it can be lifted on and off, but cannot be pulled over to squash an infant. If any infants are going to be squashed in my house, I want to make sure that it is not due to my poor workmanship.

I gave it to my daughter for her first birthday. She pulled herself up on it, threw several books on the floor and then crawled off. Which means she thinks it’s fantastic, I assume.