Woodworking Projects for Young Kids

[Quesne Ouaques]

I have young kids between 2 and 8, and I (usually) enjoy having them visit with me in the shop.

I'm trying to think up some good projects to keep them busy, though, and it has not been easy.

Does anyone have any ideas? Any project plans or photos you could share?

Thanks

[Andy McCormick]

How about disipline paddles?:)

[Joe Mioux]

My daughter is a bit older than your kids, but she loves chopping mortises.

FWW has a great video on cutting tenons with hand tools (this is the work bench video.

Scribe a line, take a shoulder plane, cut the line a bit with the plane, use a saw..... etc.......... type stuff.

a few hand tools and your kids will love the time spent out there.

(of course, this means you might have to buy some tools. but remember, you are doing it "for the children"!) ;)

joe

[Greg Johnson]

I taught a class of young kids years ago. We built a coat hanger out of mahogany with inset dowels for hangers. I first taught them how to square a board. Then taught them how to make a symmetric pattern for the top. Then we layed out the holes and used a (I'm showing my age :o ) brace and bit to drill. Then we learned about glue joints, sanding and finishing with Danish oil. I still have one that is out in my fishing shed. I took the foul weather gear off it and here is a pic:
http://www.skunkbayweather.com/P1000614.JPG

The kids seem to enjoy it and had something they could actually use.... In fact my wife just bought a coat hanger this week at Target.... Dang, I missed an opportunity for a little shop time.....:D

Greg

[frank shic]

just bought a book called woodshop for kids by jack mckee which has got a lot of very easy projects for young children. no, they won't be building any pennsylvania secretaries or dutch highboys, but they will get to build some fun little toys like the paddleboat, the magic sieve, to name a few...

[keith ouellette]

we have a friend and she has a young boy (about twelve) and we were thinking of letting him come to my shop so he could learn something new. He is a little challenged.

The issue of safety came up. He has not used any kind of tool before.

A shop safety lesson first.

I was figuring on letting him cut out some patterns on the scroll saw to start out with.

for the next stage I was considering routing a few signs with a plunge router.

Then, now that he got to have some fun with power tools, I would teach him some technical stuff like what square and parallel and things like that mean.

Then off to a more three dimensional project like a bird house made with butt joints and then the same thing with more complicated joints so he could see the difference.

Plan things out in stages so he could have fun and learn along the way.

[Joshua Culp]

One of the first things I remember making with my grandfather were rubber band guns.

I'll post a picture tonight if I have time.

The stock was made from a scrap of 2x4. The side-by-side double barrels were dowel rod. The 'action' was two clothespins.

The project taught me to use a bandsaw to cut the stock, a drill press for the trigger hole, and different sanding machines/techniques.

The fact that I still have that rubber-band gun 25 years later (after moving all over the place in the Marine Corps) really says something about how much I enjoyed spending time with grandpa in his shop.

[Tim Lynch]

Rubber band/pingpong ball gun and silly bass guitar that was designed on the fly and is useless as a musical instrument :o Pencil boxes for teachers.

[Chris Allen]

I'm building some birdhouses with my kids this weekend.

[Quesne Ouaques]

How about disipline paddles?:)

A very funny thought, but -- you know -- for the youngest one, it's not a bad idea!

Very simple shape....a little shaping, a little sanding....no joinery....it can be used as a cheese board....

And it will match my dad's paddle from Phi Kappa Theta!

[Quesne Ouaques]

Thanks very much to everyone so far for these ideas. I really appreciate it! It seems like there are a lot of really good projects for youngsters.

If you haven't chimed in yet please keep them coming. I would love to be able to bookmark this thread for my kids so that, whenever they come down to the shop, they can work on a project they already started or pick a new one from the list!

[Jim Eller]

Take a look at Craig Steven's book for kids.

http://www.woodworkersresource.com/products/buy-now-page/index.html

[Lee Schierer]

My grandkids love gluing up things from my scrap bucket. I put cut offs from making tenons and lap joints to use as clamping pads. They glue them up into all sorts of shapes and such.

They also enjoy making napkin rings, birdhouses, pinewood derby cars, tic tac toe games, etc.

[Kevin Godshall]

The biggest thing I have found so far to get my kids interested in woodworking and in keeping them coming back.......... is to make practical, useful things that not only give them experience and knowledge of building, but also are put into every day life afterwards.

Examples: birdhouses (bluebirds in my area, the kids monitor them all summer and repair them in the winter), clipboards (my little girl won't go anywhere without hers, and each of my kids made one for their teacher's for Christmas), benches/stepstools, bulletin boards.

My best ideas come from my kids. "Dad, I need a ............" OK, let's go make one.

[Chris Tsutsui]

In Junior High I took woodshop and our class had a contest of who can make an all wooden car that is propelled by a single rubber band. My car went the furthest of all the class mates. So then I had to go up against my teacher.

The wheels were pre bought wood discs (all same size) and everyone was given a dowel. Basically it just cutting up pieces of wood and designing a rubber band / lever system with twine wrapped around an axle.

Of course the teacher's car totally obliterated my car in distance... Mainly cause the guy had 20 years experience behind his design. haha

This is safer than making a car powered by a mouse trap I think.

Kids love games, and I'll never forget that competition.

[Lee Schierer]

My best ideas come from my kids. "Dad, I need a ............" OK, let's go make one.

I forgot bout that one.....:D, we made book racks, baseball mitt, bat and ball hanger, kite string winders for my kids before they graduated to furniture.

[James Hendrix]

I am a den leader for cub scouts and am always looking for items the boys can make.

Previous items have been:
5 board stool (after the boys made them, I had them paint them. Then the stools stayed in my garage for all of our den meetings. That way, they always had a place to sit. At the end of the scout year, they took them home)

5 board tool box (just like the 5 board stool, only upside down and a handle)

bird houses

I just aquired a lathe and am thinking of small projects they can do
as well.

For own kids, they enjoy getting my scrap wood, a hammer and nails, and then some paint and just start making stuff. Even have the neighbor kids join in as well...

[David Keller NC]

You don't say whether your youngest (2) is a boy or a girl, but it might not matter - make blocks! I've never met a kid that didn't have fun with a bunch of wooden blocks, despite the fact that they had mass-produced stuff like Legos.

The cool thing about this is that you get to use up your scrap pile, the youngest can use a tool in the shop that they're not going to seriously injure themselves with (a handsaw, sandpaper and maybe some beeswax for a finish), and they get to run to Mom with a handful of blocks and say "I doed it!!!"