Children’s Museums with Builder Boards
If you would like to see a set of Builder Boards before you build the following children’s museums have sets.
My First Woodworking Class with Young Children
It was the most meaningful, fun, and interesting woodworking I’d ever done.
Kids and the Hand Operated Drill Press
I bought this drill press many years ago and hundreds, of kids have used it. If kids can drill bigger and straighter holes it allows them to build quite a few more projects. They like the challenge of learning to use it and are proud of their new found competence.
Woodshop Safety
…… experience taught me that even very young children can be trusted to use real tools. Fifteen years of woodworking with kids has confirmed this initial experience.
Kids at Work, three short videos
Kids at work
Builder Boards, a short history
…. children taught me Builder Boards could be more than a playhouse. The idea of building a playhouse gave way to the idea of building from a child’s imagination.
Kids: Take It Apart
This is an electricity board made from parts taken from a VCR and a tape deck. It is powered by and electric train transformer. It got a lot of kids interested in electricity.
Go Carts Verses the Science Olympiad or Third Grade Engineering
When I was in the third grade, my sister and I and a couple neighborhood kids designed “go carts”.
The Electricity Board
Electricity is a slippery subject. Its hard to wrap your mind around something you can’t see.
A Dollhouse from a Recycled Drawer
My wife got the idea to build a doll house for our grandkids and got a big drawer from the restore.
Builder Boards……24 Years Later
Recently a teacher friend completed a set with her class of sixth graders and told me an amusing story about teaching practical math. She divided the class into groups, gave each group a board and the plans, and told them to draw the position of the notches on the board. Of course, each group had the notches in a different position so….. they had to figure out which plan was right.
World’s Largest Set of Builder Boards goes to the Park
After making the world’s largest set of Builder Boards from recycled and left over plywood, I took them to the park for a few hours. Ages 1 to adult played. Lots of dads and some teenagers. A good time was had by all. Here are some pictures: ...
Solar Energy with Kids
Solar cooked hot dogs really do taste better
Woodshop for Kids: Table of Contents
Below is the Table of contents from Woodshop for Kids
Sailing Through High School, a nauticaul alternative
“What do we want, a kid who is actively engaged in learning something new everyday or a bored, disaffected teenager, who is reluctantly putting in his time at school?”
A Rube Goldberg Machine from a Treadle sewing Machine
when it quit working I’d say, “can you figure out what’s wrong?”
Four Speeds in Reverse
To save money, and as an antidote to book work, my college buddy Joe and I used to work on our VW’s together. VW Repair for the Complete Idiot was our bible and if it failed us Joe, who didn’t like big business capitalists, would consult VW of America and do the opposite of what they recommended.
Summer Woodworking with Kids Class
This post has pictures of the shop and description of how I organized a class of 10 kids. In the morning it was 6-8 year olds and in the afternoon it was 8-12 year olds.
My Wife’s Toolbox
…..I’m not bad with a hammer and saw myself……It drove me crazy to go downstairs to his basement shop and look for the right tool…..
Free plans: The Marble Roll
Make this magnetic marble roll with the kids, then watch them enjoy constructing infinite paths for the marbles.