Woodworking, teamwork, and community service - all in one project.
My first experience building for children was a small climbing dome I built for my son’s day care center. It was an easy project, so I was amazed at the reaction. The moms and children acted as if I had built the Eiffel Tower. Spurred by their enthusiastic response, I began to think about a playhouse, something on the order of big Lincoln Logs, that children could put together and take apart themselves.
For building materials, I rejected real logs because of their weight. I considered plastic water pipe and cardboard tubes before the idea of using cedar fence boards struck me. These worked well but eventually evolved into a plywood version with five different lengths of wall pieces.
Using plywood made the set practically indestructible, and the pieces of different lengths gave more building options. I’ve taken these builder boards to preschools, elementary schools, and friends’ houses, and they never fail to draw a crowd of enthusiastic young builders. Builder Boards are first and foremost great fun. Children continually come up with new things to build, and they learn to work together.
Older children’s interest
One day at a children’s fair, some middle school students came by and wanted to try it out. I was surprised (I thought they would be too old) and then intrigued. Not only were they eager to play with it, but they also wanted to build a set themselves. Reflecting, I realized that with jigs, youngsters could build a set even without much woodworking experience. Taken with the idea, I started proposing it to anyone - shop teachers, core teachers, PTA members, scout leaders - who would listen.
I knew a local middle school had a program in which students worked on community projects. I spoke with a teacher and we discussed the possibility of students building a set of Builder Boards and giving it to a deserving organization as a project for their service learning program. She explained that service learning had become part of the middle school curriculum, and eighth graders were required to choose a project and work on it one morning a week for 10 weeks. Writing assignments in the form of journals with reflections about the project were part of classroom assignments.
Nine students chose Builder Boards for their service learning project and after deciding to go ahead, I carefully worked out construction details. Five of the nine had no previous woodworking experience but because I had worked with inexperienced students before I knew how capable they can be when given specific jobs. I divided the project into 15 steps. (see Jobs list). For each step that required repeated or exacting measurements, I designed a jig. Except for two vibrating sanders, we used no power tools. After working out details for each step and building jigs, I felt confident the carpentry would move smoothly. On the first day I talked about safety, introduced four of the 15 steps and we went to work.
Service
A volunteer from the local university offered to help the students decide how to give the Builder Boards away. As a group, the students talked about who might best benefit and brainstormed questions to ask interested agencies. Based on this discussion, two students drew up a questionnaire and phone script, called more than 50 agencies and individuals, and presented their finding to the group.
After construction was well along, we took a portion of one day to decide who was to receive the set. Aside from helping with questions about nonprofit organizations and whether to give it to a religious organization the adults stayed out of the way. Taking the process very seriously and after lengthy discussion, the students unanimously chose the local women care shelter, a safe house for battered women and their children.
Jobs List:
1. Cut pieces to length (figure 1)
2. Cutting the corners (figure 2)
3. Rounding the edges of the boards
4. Sanding the edges
5. Cutting the notches down (figure 3)
6. Forming notches by removing plywood between saw cuts
7. Check fit and quality control
8. Oil finish
9. Laying out and cutting the gable ends
10. Wood burning the gable ends
11. Gluing and stapling Velcro to the top of the gable ends and bottom of the roof boards
12. Building boxes to hold the two- and four-notch pieces
13. Cut, round, sand, and oil roof boards
14. Cut and wash inner tube ties for roof boards and the six- and 20-notch pieces
15. Questionnaire and phone calls
Organization
Building the set with a group is a real organizational problem There are several jobs to do - sawing, sanding, planing, painting - some challenging, some repetitive. There is a sequence for the jobs, although it allows some flexibility. Availability of tools and jigs also restricts organizational options. The challenge is to intersperse the tedious jobs, such as rounding edges and sanding, with the more interesting ones to match students’ interest and abilities and to switch jobs frequently enough to sustain interest and enthusiasm.
Although I did not institute it the first day, it soon became obvious that a schedule was necessary. On the first day, the students were very concerned about breaks. They wanted to take one every time the bell rang and the rest of the school moved from class to class. A five minute break every 40 minutes threw everything off. On the second day, I proposed this schedule:
8:15-8:30 Discussion of jobs to be done, safety, and new tool lessons
8:30-9:15 First job
9:15-9:45 Second job
9:45-10:00 break (with donuts)
10:00-10:15 Questions, problems, review
10:15-10:45 Third job
10:45-10:55 Clean up
This worked well, but once we established the schedule, we didn’t always stick to it. The break in the middle was crucial, as were the donuts, but we didn’t always switch jobs. If students had started a job, I believed they should be able to finish it, even though it went beyond switching time. Because there was a tendency to gravitate toward the more complicated jobs, the problem was to be sure each student got a chance at the fun jobs and did a fair share of the tedious ones. If someone was doing a job no one else wanted, and wanted to keep doing it, I saw no reason to switch. After discussing the issue of fairness, I left things mostly up to the students. A future tactic might be to have everyone round corners or sand for the first 20 or so minutes.
Construction
I cut the plywood sheets into strips so the students started with a pile of strips 5 1/2” wide and 48” long. These strips had to be cut into the correct number of pieces of the proper length. The long strips were inserted into the jig in figure 1 and cut at the proper slots. Students repeated this operation until we had 43 two-notch pieces, 27 four-notch pieces and 10 six-notch pieces. The long roof boards and the 10-notch pieces were already cut to length.
The jig worked well. The students’ tendency was to hurry and be swept up by the cutting, so I monitored to make sure they cut the proper number of pieces. Working in pairs helped. One worked sawing while the other set up the next piece. Some workers were so diligent they got blisters. I encouraged them to slow down and pace themselves. With 100 5-1/2” cuts, pacing is important!
Cutting the corners was straightforward. It was hard to make a mistake with the jig I constructed (figure 2), but it was hard work. We made 100 notched pieces, and each piece had four corners to cut. Often after 10 minutes of cutting (two or three boards), students needed a rest.
There were a lot of edges to be rounded and sanded. Each piece, including the gable ends and roof boards, had to be rounded. Rounding the edges makes the pieces safer and easier to handle and gives a more attractive finish, but it is a tedious job. We started rounding edges on the first day, and finished on the eighth.
Safety
I started by giving a lesson on how to use a plane and saws explaining how sharp they are. I demonstrated, let them practice on boards, observed them, showed them again, and let them practice again as many times as needed. Spoke shaves and Surforms became the tools of choice for the ends and short pieces, while corner planes and block planes were used for the longer six-and 10-notch pieces and the roof boards. We rounded all the edges of each board before we cut the notches in it.
The rounded edges needed sanding - another long job. We had a sanding table with a blower to suck the sawdust away from the boards as we sanded. We used two orbital finishing sanders with 80-grit flooring sandpaper.
The width, depth and spacing of the notches is critical. If the notches are too wide or deep, the house will be wobbly. If the notches are too tight, children using the house will become quickly frustrated. If the spacing between the notches isn’t exactly the same, the boards will not line up when building a house.
To keep all these cuts in the right place I made a jig using a metal miter box to hold a back saw in exactly the right place (figure 3). I used carefully measured stops to gauge the distance between notches and a stick that was 1/16” thicker than the notch width to gauge the notch width. Although there are several steps to using this jig the students caught on quickly and the notches came out in the right place.
Trial and error
We used a coping saw to cut between the saw cuts for the notches. The tendency was to clamp the longer boards in the vice up high (vertically) so that they could cut two or three notches without moving the board in the vice. This did not work because the board moved back and forth instead of being cut. After a demonstration and some trial and error, most students found it easier to put the notch they were working on as close to the vice jaw as possible and move the board after cutting out opposite notches.
Because notch width, depth, and spacing is so critical, it is necessary to check each and every notch. I stationed the jig for cutting notches next to the vice for removing the plywood between the saw cuts so the people doing theses jobs could communicate with each other. If there was a problem, it could be corrected before many pieces were cut. I made it the responsibility of the person removing the plywood from the notch to ensure that each notch was the proper width and depth and had the proper spacing.
Finishing up
Laying out and cutting the gable ends was an exacting job for inexperienced woodworkers, but they enjoyed the challenge. Two students worked together, and I walked them through it step by step. Burning the school’s name, student names, and a design into one gable end was a popular activity that could be expanded to include both sides of both gable ends. Building boxes to hold the pieces was also a popular project, although it required accurate measurements. Usually two students worked together.
On the third day, it had become apparent that two of the students were not enthusiastic about woodworking. They probably felt about woodworking they way I feel about writing questionnaires and making phone calls, so when we asked for volunteers to write a questionnaire and make phone calls, we had two eager volunteers.
The last day was exciting. As some students finished the last pieces, the rest took the Builder Boards outside to assemble the set for the first time. They built and rebuilt it several times, discussing various shapes, entrances, and door and window placements. One student later wrote in his journal “I was amazed at what we created and are going to give to the lucky kids who are going to get it. Most of us want to keep it for ourselves.”
Students Pride
After the house was finished, five of the builders delivered it to the women care shelter business office and assembled it for an enthusiastic staff. For security reasons, we were unable to deliver it to the actual shelter and see the younger children use it. This was a disappointment but part of the lesson. Here are some comments from the builders’ journals:
“the wood....would just be sitting there no matter if it just sat there for a minute or days. We changed that. We changed that wood into something uniquely made by us and extraordinarily beautiful.”
“All the hard work, the elbow grease, the toil, and the donuts have finally paid off. It looks like we’ll have the playhouse done on time.”
“Before this I had only built a couple of things out of wood. Now that I have finished a project this big, I feel like I could go on and do something on my own. I think building a house would be an interesting project that I would like to try.”
“When I got off the phone with women care, I almost cried. I learned domestic violence is one of the less funded things in our community.”
“I wish I could do this again with a group.”
One builders parents said, “This is the only thing in school he is interested in.”
There is something magical about the process of building, the transformation of raw materials by knowledge, skill and persistence into a beautiful and useful product. This is especially true of building for children. They are easy to please and appreciative of both the effort and the product. Watching teenagers capture some of this magic was rewarding. I have always felt building is an arena in which I have a tangible positive effect. I think our eighth grade builders felt the same way. In a world where things may seem incomprehensible or beyond control, here was real work where their efforts clearly made a difference.
Perhaps, when older, if they want to build their own cabin in the woods they won’t be afraid to start. Or maybe they’ll help build houses for Habitat for Humanity,. Whatever the effect on their future, they can take satisfaction in the knowledge that, because of their efforts, children at the women care shelter will be able to use their hands and imaginations to build the house they don’t have.
(c) 2007 Jack McKee, all rights reserved
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