My 12 yr old daughter

[phil harold]

Wants to make project.

Something that can be done in a day or so, with hand tools

Got Any Ideas?

:o

[Joe McMahon]

How about a step stool?

[Dan Andrews]

My 10 year old grandson and I made some rustic dresser pulls from small diameter hickory limb pieces. (He wanted to replace pulls with pink flowers on them).

Racks and shelves custom made to display collectables are always a good hand tool project.

Bird houses are good starter projects. Be sure to search on-line for specific dimentions to attract specific birds. It does make a difference.

for larger projects, a small dressing table for her room might be something she would use and take pride in doing (some/most/all?) the work herself.

The main thing is to take advantage of this reason to spend the time together.

Good luck.:)

[whit richardson]

Bench made with pine or poplar. I did some "stand back and wear these" operations on the tablesaw with my granddaughter a year back. then we nailed, glued and did a bit of sawing to make a Colonial looking bench. the other fun part was picking out the paint (premixed Milk paint) and painting a VERY RED bench. Took two days and used an old pine shelf board.

[Tom Winship]

My 11 year old grandson made a birdhouse one day this summer. I cut the pieces out and he drilled holes and put the nails in. He then finished it.

[Ron Petley]

Make one of these, they are great fun, quick and you have something at the end that will lead to new things, my kids love them, I made on with my 6yo daughter at her request when I asked he what she would like to make with me. Course that was after she had played around with her brothers.
http://api.ning.com/files/xOZw5uzSvCDsOG91HeoUgat8BStgRmUJT3WjY*pDZBqp-NROUdLIvP9wWoArwNI9Ci7gBw7xI1vz94NY3kr-HLgLGDNqdDfD/HowToBuildACigarBoxGuitar.pdf%22%3EHow%20To%20Buil d%20A%20Cigar%20Box%20Guitar.pdf
Cheers Ron.

[Ron Petley]

And here is what it looks like, she plays it lap style.
Cheers Ron.
159921

[Bob Warfield]

Ron she is a real cutie pie! She's going to give you grey hair in just a few years.
Nice project too BTW.
Thanks,
Bob Warfield

[Ron Petley]

Thanks Bob for the kind words, we can't really play but that doesn't stand in the way of us having fun and we are learning.
Cheers Ron.

[Dave Lehnert]

I knew a guy who made things for kids to put together with Miller Dowel.
The kids could hammer the pegs in to assemble.

http://millerdowel.com/

[Matt Armstrong]

How about a Roubo workbench?

[john brenton]

My baby girl and I made an old hooded style baby crib for her dolls. I used dovetails and tenons so it took me a while (and a butt load of putty), but if I had used butt joints I would have been able to knock it out real quick.

[Dave Gaul]

I just noticed at Lowes this weekend they have project kits for kids for sale. Not sure if they are too "kiddish" for a 12 yo, but they had some pretty cool stuff... looked like you buy the kit which includes the wood & hardware. They even had kid hand tool sets available... might be worth checking out??

[Jonathan McCullough]

My kids (6 and 8) and I made a spoon out of maple as a wedding gift for my brother and his fiancee. All hand tools--coping saw, rip saw, back saw, chisels, gouges, spokeshave (kids love spokeshaves), eggbeater drill, sandpaper. They can do just about all of it except using the gouge for the inner part of the bowl. In a carefully controlled situation, the older boy was able to use the chisels with a mallet.

When I get my #$%# together I'm going to combine a little E&M with wood working and do this crystal radio project (http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-an-antique-style-crystal-radio/) with them.

[Dave Lehnert]

Popular Woodworking each issue has an easy to do project called "I can do that" They offer the plans on-line for free. May find a project you can use.

http://www.popularwoodworking.com/ArticleSearch/?category=icandothat

[Mark Dorman]

Here is a bird house idea that is simple. I used a 1" x 6" x 48".
Size the hole to the birds you want.

Mark

[Bill Houghton]

Ron she is a real cutie pie! She's going to give you grey hair in just a few years.
Nice project too BTW.
Thanks,
Bob Warfield

No, if Ron has any sense, he'll just start building the tower now; by the time she's old enough to date, he can just lock her in the room at the top of the tower. Just don't let her grow her hair long.

Yes, very nice project. I bet she's really pleased to be making music with something she made.

[Jim Koepke]

One consideration may be to find her other "hobbies."

If she collects dolls, then maybe a small adirondack style chair for them to sit in. These could be made in mass so that a few could be made at the same time.

Does she like to draw? Then maybe a box to hold pencils and other drawing supplies.

A small bedside table could also be a nice project that she will keep forever and it could eventually become a family heirloom.

jim

[Dan Carroll]

You might pick up a copy of the Cub Scout "How To Book'. I had one when I was a den leader years ago and it had a bunch of age appropriate projects for the 7 to 10 year old group. Depending on her attention span you can select projects that she assembles after you do the cutting or let her do most of the cutting. I remember a newspaper recycling center that was a big hit. There was also a Xmas ornament that required using a hammer and nails to punch holes in some copper flashing that was a huge hit. Look around for old 'Pow Wow" books that might have projects in them (I found an online version one time, likely still there).

[phil harold]

Thanks for all the Ideas!

We will see what I come up with when I get Home

[Prashun Patel]

My kids actually dislike making toys and birdfeeders.

They love most making gifts for my wife and specifically for the kitchen.

Cutting boards and pot holders are a hit with them. They also don't involve a lot of pieces.

A whale pencil holder is a neat project that can teach one how to use a coping saw and drill press - two RELATIVELY safe tools.