There are a lot of toy drills for kids.  The problem is, they are all toys.  When your son or daughter has outgrown the pretend tool, it might be time to consider a real tool.  A drill is a popular choice, but I recommend opting for an impact driver instead.

Reasons to choose an impact driver for kids: 

• Smaller for small hands
• Lower speed
• No big chuck with big openings and rough textured ring – safer.
• Strength not needed for tightening a chuck.  They use a quick connector.  Bits snap in and out.
• It’s a tool that they can grow into, rather than a toy to be discarded.

While it is tempting to get one that matches the child’s favorite color, I suggest getting one that matches the battery platform / company of any tools you already have.  If you don’t already have a brand of choice, then go with their favorite color

• Red -> Milwaukee 
• Black -> Craftsman
• Orange -> Ridgid or Black & Decker
• Teal – >Makita
• Yellow -> DeWalt
• Green -> Ryobi
• Blue -> Kobalt

Often these tools come with no battery (known as “bare tool”) or they come with choices of the size (Ah) of the battery.  I suggest going with smaller batteries like 1.5Ah or 2Ah as they are both lighter and smaller in size… they are also less expensive.

Buying real impact driver, not only has the potential to build their skills, it also mean that in the event they lose interest, it can move to mom or dad’s workshop and get used.

Child working on the lathe.

My son (7) was given this 4-in-1 PlayMat Tool as a gift. It is a combination of 4 electric woodworking tools:

1. Disk Sander
2. Drill Press
3. Jig Saw
4. Lathe

Overall for a little tool, it is quiet and safe. My son has enjoyed shaping the wood dowel segments on the lathe. And cutting and sanding the thin sheets of plywood included in the kit. The plan-book that it comes with is quite well thought out. Though most of the PlayMat is plastic, it is quite strong and seems to be holding up well so far.

Part of workshop time is learning skills, and part, I’m afraid, is a bit like dress-up. Kids like to imitate us. They like to do what we are doing and wear what we are wearing. Of course, my tool belt even partially loaded will not fit my child’s waist. It immediately falls down. He wants to wear it so badly that he ends up holding it up with both hands. After a few minutes it becomes a safety concern. One I fear for his safety as he has no free hands to protect himself, and two I fear for my tools that keep falling to the floor on a toolbelt that won’t stay up.

There are a bunch of toy tool belts but I prefer one of these which are a bit more serious.

Steve Schuler is a handtool woodworker who has written a number of pieces related to woodworking and children. I highly recommend them:

• Working Wood safely with Children
• How to Start Training the Next Generation of Woodworkers
• Addendum: Training the Next Generation of Woodworkers
• Woodworking with Children: Lots of Pictures
• What Are Some Good, Kid-Friendly Woodworking Projects?
• I Love My Sawbenches, Mostly – Another take on grownups building saw benches that serve double duty as kid workbenches.

Doug Stowe is a hero of mine who is a champion for getting young kids to build things with wood. His blog (wisdomofhands.blogspot.com) is a wonderful collection of thoughts on education and the need for kids to make things with their hands.
He has a set of plans for making a child friendly bench hook for helping to do three things.

1. Helping them saw more accurately. – Accurate cuts make better looking and performing projects. Success builds pride and confidence.
2. Helping them saw more effortlessly. – Builds the enjoyment.
3. Helping to keep hands safe.

You can read the article with plans, here dougstowe.com/educator_resources/104benchhook-jkjl.pdf

Sometimes kids just don’t have the patience initially to stand idle while you do some of the prep-work to start a small project. Other times, you don’t have the time to do the prep-work to do a small project with your young woodworker. This is where some of the pre-fabricated kits can come in handy.  My son and I have done a couple of the RedTool box kits and we have both enjoyed the projects.

Our builds of the tool box and the bird house were both enjoyable and successful.  While the idea of a prefab kit, sometimes offends the woodworker in me, the being able to grab something fun of my shelf and immediately get to work on it with my son is very nice sometimes.

Examples of Red Box woodworking kits  on Amazon
Red Tool Box also has an entire line of tools and workbench.  My thoughts are, the tools are better than nothing.  They are kid sized, but real.  I prefer to pick and choose the tools I give my son, more carefully, but if you don’t have time for careful choices, Red Tool Box brand tools are a good place to start.

The Red Tool Box workbench is interesting and gets bonus points from me for having a real clamping system.  I have issues with its only two pole legs.  My recommendation would be to get a good workmate that can be used by both child and adult.  It has very similar features, but is more serious and can maintain its usefulness longer.

A good workbench is the key to a happy and safe experience with children working in the workshop. This one has some great features:

• Storage
• Configurable rack (french cleat)
• Dog holes
• Large work surface.

The only thing it seems to lack is a vise.  Teaching kids to secure their work properly helps avoid both accidents and frustration.

I really like the idea behind this kid-sized workmate. Keep the workpiece clamped to keep little hands off the wood when they are sawing, screwing, drilling, chiseling or even nailing. It is when kids (or adults) use one hand to hold the workpiece that injuries happen.

Unfortunately, this particular bench is built by someone with more welding experience than probably most woodworkers have. If you’ve got the skill though, this looks like a great project.

I do recommend that if you are buying an actual Black & Decker Workmate for your child to use, get the one that has the step to stand on. It not only gives your child a little height, it also adds their weight to the bench so it can’t slide.  It also has a 450lb capacity just in case you need it for your own use.

Thanks to Sean Hellman for sharing Ian Swain’s idea for mounting a drill bit in a wooden file handle to make what is essentially a hand drill for kids.  These are probably more accurately referred to as a Gimlets.  They lack the power of a Hand Brace, and the rpm of the egg beater hand drills, but they do seem to work well, especially in green wood.

You can see Video of it here from Sean Hellman.

Here is Ian Swain’s site where he sells the Palm Drill.

Highland Woodworking has just put together a grouping of various woodworking tools for kids. This is a good quick way to get your child up and running with a set of decent tools. These are not cheap toy tools, but quality woodworking tools that just happen to work well for kids.
You can find and purchase the entire set at HighlandWoodworking.com

My only objection of their choice in tools is the coping saw.  These are frustratingly annoying for kids to use and the one way to turn a kid off from woodworking is to frustrate them.  I suggest replacing it with my recommendations for  a better choice for kids saws.

When your child is ready to use a handsaw, safety should be the first requirement. Secure the wood with clamps, vises or kid friendly miter-box.  Kids should be taught to keep both hands on the saw or one hand behind their back.  That will eliminate nearly all potential sawing injuries.

With that out of the way the question comes to what saw is the right saw for them.  As with all woodworking took choices, there are quite a few choices.

Hack saws made for cutting metal are actually a good starter wood saw for kids.  The teeth are small and not overly aggressive.  This makes it easy to start and easy to move back and forth.  The teeth are hardened to will stand up to a fair amount of abuse and still cut fairly well.  The blade is not very deep so it does not get stuck in the wood as easily as a typical wood saw.  As an added bonus, the saw blade can be flipped around so it can be changed to cut either on the push stroke, or the pull stroke.  Be sure to get one that tensions the blade on both ends, not one of the flimsy ones where the end of the blade is not supported.  Great Neck and Stanley both offer good affordable hack saws.  Replacement blades are abundant and inexpensive.  When they are ready to use a real wood saw, this one can serve it’s real purpose of cutting metal and will be a tool that could last their lifetime.

Pull-saws come in a variety of shapes and sizes and have teeth that cut on the pull stroke.  The teeth are usually sharper than traditional saws and the blades are thinner, which means they cut easier and faster.  I recommend the carpenter style saws that have teeth on just one side.  The double sided Ryoba saws are handy with one side set for rip cutting and the other for crosscut, but the presence of teeth on both sides of the blade is a bit more of a safety risk for kids.  Good yet affordable pull saws are made by Shark and Irwin.  The one drawback to pull saws is that the teeth are sharp and fairly easily damaged if misused.

Toolbox Saws are short and generally have a thicker blade which makes them very sturdy.  I am a big fan of the Stanley 15″ yellow toolbox saw.  The yellow plastic handle makes it look like a toy, but it is not.  The teeth cut on both the push and pull stroke so it cuts fast and easily.  The blade guard is secure and completely covers the teeth so it protects them from kids who pick up and put away their tools roughly.  This is a good saw for kids, and while you are ordering them one, get a second for yourself.  You’ll be amazed at how often you need it.

Coping Saws or Jig Saws are best avoided for kids.  The blades often bind and break when used by young kids.  They take more practice than parents realize and a gentler hand to make them work effectively.  Many parents make the mistake of starting their kids with a coping saw because they look smaller and more manageable for kids, but any of the other saws above are a better choice.

Better Sawing for Kids

Regardless of the type of saw you choose for your child it is important that children (and their parent) understand that sawing is actually a gentle act.  Many kids get the wrong impression from watching their parents that sawing is an aggressive, forceful thing…the harder you push the faster you cut.  The tighter you grip the saw, the faster you cut.  These are both false.   A saw should pushed and pulled gently to allow the teeth to do the work.  A saw should be gripped lightly, not tightly.  The general rule is that when you are sawing, if anything is clenched (teeth, hands, butt) you are doing something wrong in your approach to sawing.

I picked up this Stack-On Step N Stool toolbox for my son so he could stand on it while working at my workbench, and then store his tools in it when he is done.

They are made in the USA and well built.  They are deeper than the average toolbox this size and are well designed to be stable for kids or adults standing on them.  It is reported to hold up to 325lbs.  If you buy more than one, they stack up just great.  My son likes RED so we went with the red tool box, but they are also available in gray. (The gray one is the same size even though it doesn’t look like it in the photos)

My son loves it, and often uses it as a workbench and a seat in addition to its job as a step stool and toolbox.  I have to admit that I’ve used it as a low workbench on occasion too.

When a toy is made of wood in the shop and is a replica of a tool, then it is a good project for everyone involved.

Here is a nice example of a wooden toy hand plane patterned after a Stanley No 3.

I’ve already covered some tips for getting kid sized real tool sets, however sometimes you need to provide toy tool sets.  There are a few limiting factors that may cause you to choose toy tools instead of or in addition to real tools

• Kids are too young for certain tools
• You need a set of play tools that are furniture safe so kids can play with them in places where real tools would not be appropriate like in the car, in the living room, at grandma’s house…
• Kids need time to PLAY, when they aren’t being watched with eagle eyes and told, no hammering with the screwdriver, no running with the saw, don’t put that drill in your mouth…

There are a lot of toy tool sets to choose from.  Some are more realistic than others.  I have found that the ones that look more realistic don’t hold up as well, and also create some confusion over what is real and what is a toy.  If it’s a toy, they can PLAY, if it is not a toy, they can’t – or shouldn’t.  I like to make the distinction between toy and real to be clear.

• There are toy tool sets from Home Depot
• Toy tools  from Craftsman
• Environmentally friendly and recycled plastic toy tools
• And chunky wooden tool sets

And of course if you don’t want to buy them, here is a great example of toy tools you can make for or with your kids.

There are a number of tool sets for kids.  They all differ in what items they have and the quality of those items.  I tend to buy single tools at a time that are adult tools but approachable by kids.  I find they are often made a little more solidly and they are designed more for work than for play, so when put to use, they just function better.

However, I also have limited time for tool selecting, so I certainly understand the need to just buy a set of kid sized tools and go from their.

Kid Tool Set Safety

The sets come with a variety of tools, however, I encourage you to introduce one tool at a time , like one every few days.  It is easier to address function and tool safety.  It is also the time to address the specific rules of the tool. Such as

• Keep both hands on the saw
• Only saw on wood in the vise or in the miterbox
• No sawing on furniture.

It may be that some tools in the set need to be withheld for months or even years until you feel the tool is appropriate for the child’s age, skill and behavior.

Here are some sets of real tools [I covered toy tool sets here]

• Grip 9 piece childrens tool set
• Tool set.  I like that this one comes with clamps (a real safety aid)
• This tool set by Kaplan seems to be the most complete and look the most like real tools without all the fancy colors and diminutive sizes.
• 10Pc Tool Kit is another full set with clamps.  Interesting that they packaged it with a fret saw (a really deep coping saw)

When choosing tools, I look for the ones that look the most like mine.  It sometimes indicates quality, but most importantly my son wants to use THE tool I am using, so if his looks like mine, that helps a lot.