30+ kids from daycare visiting my shop this Friday....

[Ajcoholic]

So, two months ago I was asked to give a demo so to speak, of my woodworking shop. It's for my son's daycare - he isn't part of the group as he is to young yet, but there will be 30 odd kids between the ages of 4 and 8 years old coming in the morning for 1 1/2 hours.

They have field trips to various places and the daycare (which is really well run, and more like a school than just a daycare) wants to show them what a woodworking shop is all about!

I have spent many hours in my head the past few weeks wondering what to do to give these youngsters some sort of relevant info, as well as keep their interest and not have anything too loud or messy.

I decided to cut out a bunch of parts on my Shopbot Buddy CNC router (a 48" by 48" machine), to make a small box, that they can assemble and finish. The front has their individual names V carved on it, and the bottom, sides and front/back are keyed together for easy assembly. I will get them to lightly sand the edges, and then glue them together. They will paint them at the daycare, and they can use them to store their pencils/pens/crayons, etc.

I am also going to (with the help of the apprentice working with me) get them to try planing a little basswood, with a few of my small hand planes - also drilling holes into a block of wood with a small hand drill and maybe driving a few screws. Maybe even try cutting some wood with one or two of my small tenon saws.

I of course will explain what I do when I make furniture and cabinets, but I wanted some hands on things for the kids to do.

I hope they have fun! I know I will






AJC

[MikeB]

Wow, that is really well thought out. Those kids are going to remember that field trip forever.

[mreza]

Very interesting thought and a very good trip to remember.
Just be extra extra careful about putting every dangerous thing you think they might touch away from their reach.
I've had a few kids (family/friends) come to my shop with their parents for a tour and I've been very nervous if they hurt themselves with something.

[5vhQCj]

Great project idea. MikeB is right, those kids will definitely remember that!

Mike

[Ajcoholic]

Very interesting thought and a very good trip to remember.
Just be extra extra careful about putting every dangerous thing you think they might touch away from their reach.
I've had a few kids (family/friends) come to my shop with their parents for a tour and I've been very nervous if they hurt themselves with something.

There will of course be several of the daycare staff along with the kids. It is their responsibility to keep them behaving I have pretty much everything in my shop put away in cabinets, or up higher on shelves, etc. I will give the whole shop a good cleaning tomorrow. It will be safe

AJC

[Ajcoholic]

Great project idea. MikeB is right, those kids will definitely remember that!

Mike

Thats what I hope. I used to teach a summer school for two weeks, teaching kids from 7 to early teens model airplane building, so I have quite a bit of experience working with young children. I am pretty good at talking too, and I can relate to their age since my wife says I am still about the 6 yr old level in terms of mentality

I think it is good to try and not complicate things too much but at the same time explain what I really do, in the shop. I am assuming they dont really know much if anything re woodwork, so it will be a crash course!

AJC

[Brian @ Muir]

My hat is of to ya, nice to give back once and a while.

Brian

[Glenn in Caledon]

How long did it take to program that into the cnc? I'd also recommend throwing some breakers/disconnects to machines, something about kids and buttons.

[Ajcoholic]

How long did it take to program that into the cnc? I'd also recommend throwing some breakers/disconnects to machines, something about kids and buttons.

I spent about 1 1/2 hours last night doing the drawings and cut files ( I do my Cnc programming with Vectric Aspire). Today while I was working it took about 2 hours to cut the 160 odd pieces out if 1/4" Baltic birch ply.

[Tim in Milton]

Good for you.

Is it just me or do kids not have normal names these days?

[Ajcoholic]

Good for you.

Is it just me or do kids not have normal names these days?

Well, some of them are a little " original"... ;)

[johansmyth]

Can I come too!? What a great idea! I second cutting the power to the appendage removing machines.

[Doug in Burlington]

Great idea. It would be good if you could have the CNC running to do an example one - kids that age are not into abstract thinking and will not understand unless they see it happening. I'd also reccommend cutting the power to non used machines. Some of them will be button pushers and if there are buttons around they WILL be pushed!

[Ryan in Edmonton]

Good for you Andrew. Thats fantastic that your doing this. I've spoken to numerous young school classes about my real job. It's always a blast and I'm always amazed at how smart some of the questions are. Kids pick up on things so fast.
Have fun and let us know how it goes!

[Glenn from Winnipeg]

What a great idea. I'm sure the kids will remember this experience - especially with the hands on part.

So much better than trundling a classload of kids off to hava a snooze at the Imax

Be sure to have a few watchers around to keep little fingers out of just about everything.

Congratulations - you've put a lot of thought in this.

[Ajcoholic]

Well, we had a great visit without a hitch! First, I have to say the kids were very well behaved, and there were 5 or 6 of the staff that looked after them. I had myself and my summer student each at one end of the big work bench, where we helped each child take several passes of a piece of white pine with a hand plane, and then off to the other bench where they got to cross cut a piece of 1/2" by 2" basswood with both a Lee Valley back saw, and a Dozuki. Several of the kids took advantage to get more than one turn sawing, or trying the planes.

We got all of the small boxes put together (with much glue over everything!) before they had to go. I tried to give a simple talk on the basics - ie, how I buy rough lumber, and turn it into stuff they see at home like their beds, tables, cabinets, etc.

I heard back from the daycare, and when the bus got back they were all very excited and wanted to talk about the trip to my shop. Makes the whole experience worth while!

One of my other friends was down taking pictures. When I get some from him I will post a few.

Thanks,
AJC

[Andrew_K99]

Great job Andrew! I'm sure they'll never forget the trip!

FWIW be careful posting pictures of kids without their consent, my wife is a teacher and doing so is a big no no.

AK

[Ryan in Edmonton]

Thats fantastic Andrew. Glad it went well!
Like others have said, these kids will remember their experience at your shop for many many years!

[Ajcoholic]

Well, here are some photos (that dont show any kids faces clearly, just mine or the staff).

I have some great ones of the kids doing stuff close up but I cant post them. Anyhow, this is enough to get the idea of how the day went.. thanks again for letting me share this fun experience with the forum!

Me giving a little talk about woods

one little girl trying her hand at planing solo... I first had my hands over theirs, to guide the hand plane, then they had the option to try themselves.

cutting some basswood with the Veritas back saw...

Sanding and gluing the boxes together...

[Gary Zimmel]

Looks like the kids had a blast Andrew.
Good on you to take the time to do visit for the kids. I'm sure they will be talking about it for a long time.