James Wright runs a great YouTube channel for handtool woodworking. Today he made great video about building a tool tote with his young daughter Melody.
I love that he lets her do most of the work with minimal assistance. I wish he’d get some small safety glasses on her though. Kids are precious, so are their eyes.

He offers free plans for this build here https://www.woodbywright.com/shop/kids-tool-box-test

Melody also posted her own version of the build. Big smiles all around.

In this video, a Dad walks his son through building throwing arrows (large lawn darts). It is nice to see examples of good teachable moments. What is also nice about this video is that he shows both advanced and simple ways to do things. Example: Use a band saw to make the slots for the fins, or use a Pull Saw to do it. The only thing that makes me cringe is that neither the dad nor the son ever have a pair of safety glasses on. Safety habits are learned early. Monkey see, monkey do and all that.

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 trying to think of plans and methods while you are in the workshop with your child, it is easy to lose focus and make mistakes. This is where a collection of plans for simple toys can be a real help. Here is a collection of 12 simple projects that both easily accomplished, but also quite a bit of fun to play with when they are completed.
Available at Amazon: Making Wooden Toys

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.

by Katie and Gene Hamilton.  A good source for projects that parents and kids can build together. Available from Amazon.

This wooden crane project has quite a few parts, but makes a very cool toy for kids and has a few challenges for young woodworkers, but nothing that can not be done a little at a time.

The plans are included.

This project is easy and combines a bit of simple woodworking with drawing or painting.

The only bit I can add to making these concentration tiles would be to draw tools on them as the subjects.

Tip: If you use cedar, then the tiles can be used as coasters when your child outgrows the concentration game.

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.

Quick & Easy Woodworking: 28 Fun Projects to Start and Finish in a Day or Less is a nice set of projects that are useful and realistic.  The book is intended for new woodworkers, but it also lends itself well to projects that woodworkers of any skill level could do with their kids.

What I like is that the projects are not only skill appropriate, they are real and usable.  Kids can often pick up on if they are doing a project that made up just for pretend, or dumbed down for kids.  These are functional and will be a big source of family pride because the results can be used ever day.

Steve Good of the Scrollsaw Workshop has some fantastic plans for cars, planes, trucks and other toys for kids.  These could be made with a powered scrollsaw or with a fret or coping saw.

Here a list of the plans that I found suitable for doing with kids.

• Toy Biplane
• Car Carrier Truck with Car
• Animal Clocks
• Animal Puzzles
• Spinning Top
• Rubber Band Race Car

He graciously makes available a huge collection of other patterns as well.  They can be found here.  Steve is the author of some interesting pattern designing software that is definitely worth using if you and your kids get hooked on scrollsawing together.

This nice little project is fun because the boomerangs are easy to make and when you are done, you can get the kids outside and running around.  These great videos cover all the aspects of building them.

And don’t worry, even though the video shows a bandsaw and electric sander, you can do this just as fast with handtools so the kids can do everything.

Supplies

• 2 Large 5-gal Paint Stir Sticks
• Wood Glue
• Paint (optional)

Tools

• Crosscut saw (fine teeth)
• sandpaper
• clamps
• rasp and or wood file
• pencil

Link to Video #1

Link to Video #2

Link to Video #3

Link to Video #4

Boy Mechanic Vol 1&2 are a great collection of homemade toys and tools from the early 20th century.   There is a wealth of fun things to be made with kids.

Mousetrap powered race cars are a fun way to combine woodworking with other materials to make cars that are a lot of fun.  Learning about work and energy at the same time is just an added bonus.  The book Mousetrap Racers: Complete Builder’s Manual takes a lot of the frustration and guesswork out of it.

The Great Book of Wooden Toys is full of over 50 projects for building wooden toys like planes and cars and trucks.