Shop helper at work...

[Scott M Perry]

Just a blatant gloat, but I thought I'd share...

Have needed to clean and rearrange the garage/shop for a while. Got to it yesterday. Moved benches, tools, wood. Sore today. But got it moved and cleaned, so I'm ready to start being productive again. My daughter, who's ten, has always enjoyed playing the in the shop while I'm out there. Well, it's high time she learns to use the tools for more than just pounding nails. Before I'd even finished sweeping, she was making shavings.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8090/8373697565_db683b87f8.jpg

We're planning a project, something more than the little birdhouse/toolbox type things we've made before. First up - learning some tool skills. She had a blast with the dozuki and the spokeshave, and was using both pretty well fairly quickly.

Now we need to decide on a project. Any ideas?

Scott

[Bill Bukovec]

How about an I Can do That project from Popular Woodworking? I'm partial to the step stool/bench.

[Chris Fournier]

I do not have children and I have no regrets about this choice, until I see a photo like yours. It must be incredibly fun and rewarding to have your child take up tools and be creative with you in your shop! I would even say that I envy you. I hope that you two are productive and have a great time.

[Bob Jones]

Second opinion for the I can do that section. Megan did a tray a couple of months back that I am planning to build with my daughters. It is about the right size to hold tools and or American girl dolls, so I'm sure they will like it. I will do most of the sawing and let them drive nails, finish, and paint.

[Gary Hodgin]

There's quite a bit of woodworking for kids stuff on the internet. Not sure if there's alot of project material. I pick up a copy of a book entitled Woodworking 101 for Kids a year ago. The book has some emphasis on both skills and projects.

My grandsons, 9 and 11, have expressed some interests in woodworking and I'd done a few things with them. The book is very well written and contains 24 projects with varying difficulty. Here's a short video about the book.

http://www.woodworkersresource.com/products/woodshop-for-kids/index.html

[Scott M Perry]

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone! The Popular Woodworking projects are something I hadn't thought of - there are a lot of good ideas there. I'm sure we'll find something she likes.

Scott

[Jim Foster]

Something simple and unusual or useful... Bat-house, Simple wall mounted coat hook for coats. Shelf for your daughter's room. Cutting board if she likes to help in the kitchen also.

[harry strasil]

When the Woodworking Show comes to Kansas City, the KC Woodworking Guild usually has a booth somewhere and one of the members has several kid sized WWing Benches that he sets up and lets the kids accompaning their parents get a taste of hand tool WWing, even the lil toddlers.
This year I believe they will be set up at Overland Tool, the Rockler distributor in Shawnee Mission, Ks.

[Tom Scott]

Something that can be completed in a day or two max is best so that you keep their attention. My son never had the time or interest, but my daughter on the other hand was much more likely to come out and say she wanted to help build something. When that happened I would stop whatever I was in the middle of and we would find a new project. We made bird houses, toys, whatever. Sometimes she would just start gluing pieces from my scrap bin together. These pics are from a little box we made one afternoon. This was 8 years ago and she's a senior in high school now, but the box that we we made, and both signed on the bottom, still sits on her dresser.

251203251202251204

[Scott M Perry]

Well, she found one of the PW "I Can Do That" projects she likes - the Shaker Carry Tray (http://www.popularwoodworking.com/projects/icandothat/i-can-do-that-shaker-carry-box). We found a decent piece of pine in the pile tonight, planed it to 1/2", and milled it to rough dimension. This is clearly going to be a hybrid project - dimensioning is with power tools, while joinery will be with handtools. I'll do most of the chisel work, but she's good enough with a dozuki that I think she can cut the joints. I'm documenting everything; watch for a write-up when we're done!

Thanks for all the suggestions, and inspiration.
Scott

[Bob Jones]

That is the one I was thinking of. Looking forward to see how hers goes. :)