Woodworking is a hobby that can be started and enjoyed at an early age. Children can learn how to hone their artistic and creative side, while building tangible items with their hands. We’ve put together a list of projects that are focused on woodworking for kids.
These DIY projects are safe and easy to execute, while under your supervision. At the end, your children will have a finished project that they can use and enjoy.
​Introducing children to ​wood projects ​is a fantastic idea, no matter what age they are. Your kids will learn how to build and create while working with their hands, building confidence while simultaneously making something of use.
At a young age, toddlers, preschoolers, and ​even kids in kindergarten will have a lot of fun creating simple woodworking DIY projects. As they get older and turn into teens, you can expand the type of work they do, including the use of a few introductory power saws, along with more complicated and intricate designs.
You will only need to take a single piece of wood, and cut it down to size​. For this project, the safest saw to use is the jigsaw for making the cuts. Jigsaws are pretty safe for children, as long as you are providing supervision.
After that, apply a stain and/or poly​crylic coat to the wood (polycrylic is much safer compared to polyurethane). This is a great children’s woodworking project to show them how to stain, and how a stain interacts with wood.
When picking the stain, grab several different color samples, and test them out on a piece of scrap wood. Let your children do the staining work, as it is hard to mess up and, aside from being messy, is very safe.
The poly​ coating will help protect your wood from the elements like sun and rain.
You can simply glue the numbers on to the wood board. Or, for more of a modern look, many of the numbers you buy have risers that allow the numbers to rise off of the wood, adding depth and dimension.
Wind chimes are a fantastic addition to the entrance of your house, or the backyard of any home. The chimes blow in the breeze and make a pleasant sound as they rattle against each other. What makes it better is if it ​is done by the kids as a mini-DIY project.
To start off, you’ll need a piece of wood (one for each chime). It doesn’t need to be a fancy or expensive piece of wood – even driftwood will do. It also doesn’t have to be too long or too thick, but it it should be large enough for you to puncture holes in it and allow it to carry some weight without breaking.
You will also need bells, hooks, and some string. The bells can be large or small, and don’t have to be fancy. This is what will rattle and ring as the wind blows, so test a few out before purchasing (as you might be hearing this sound every afternoon)! The hooks will be used to attach the bells to the wood.
Prior to building the chime from the wood, you will want to add your finish. You can opt to paint it, stain it, decorate it with ribbons—it’s completely up to you. Since the chimes will sit outside, you need to add this finish so that the wood will last over the years.
Once you’re finished decorating the stick, you can now move on to attaching the hooks.
On one side of the wood, mark several dots in a straight line on the wood, with about an inch distance between each dot. This way, the bells and beads will have enough space to move and chime.
Attaching the hooks is easy, though you might need to teach small children how to do this as it may seem like a tedious task. Simply twist the tip of the hook on to the branch, slowly piercing the piece of wood until the hook is neatly secured.
After you’re done securing the hooks, it is now time to do the fun part—attaching the bells and the beads! Thread a piece of yarn or string through the hooks and add the bell at the end of the string to make sure it makes the sound of a wind chime.
After you’re done threading all of the bells, tie each string at the bottom in a knot to secure them.
Bonus: For a little extra flair, thread several colorful beads onto the string, so that they sit above the bell. This will add some extra color and personalization to the chime!
Now that you have all the pieces of the wind chime together, it’s time to hang it up! Add two more hooks to the ends of each side of the wood and thread a thicker piece of string such as twine or jute to hold all the weight of the chime.
This is very similar to hanging some of the DIY mason jar project ideas we've shared. Tie a knot to each side of the wood where the hooks are and there you have it! Your very own DIY wind chime.
One of the simplest children’s woodworking projects, and yet most rewarding, is a picture frame. There are a whole host of things that can be framed, ranging from pictures to artwork to chalkboards. And while picture frames can be quite complex, they can also be made quite simply.
The first step is to decide how large of a picture frame you’re going to want to make. For this example, we’ll be making an 8”x10” picture frame, which would hold an unmated 8x10 photo. Obviously you can make any size you want – just follow the instructions below and adjust accordingly.
You will need 4 wood sides for the frame, and you’ll need to make sure you account for the overlap. If you're just starting in on woodworking with your kids, ​it might be best for you to focus on the simpler of the two picture frame designs.
​If your child is a little older, a more sophisticated version of the picture frame will involve cuts with a miter saw.
For the simpler design,​ you'll make the wood cuts with a jigsaw. Start by ​measuring the wood out. Using 4” wide standard wood, for an 8x10 frame, you’ll need the two vertical pieces to be cut 10” long, and the two horizontal pieces to be cut 16” long. The horizontal pieces will overlap the two sides (4” each), which is how you arrive at a total of 16” long.
Try drawing out the lines you want your child to cut with a pencil, using a straightedge. Then, step back and allow your child to make the cuts through the wood.
We recommend using both wood glue and some simple metal fastners to join the wood frame together. With the wood glue, you’ll need a basic clamp, and you’ll need to let it dry for a 20-30 minutes.
The only difference with the more advanced version is that, using a mitered saw, you’ll make angled cuts in the wood to join. In this case, your measurements will be slight different. You’ll want to still cut two horizontal pieces to be cut 16” long with the jigsaw. Your two vertical pieces will be cut to 18” long.
Then, you’ll mark your 45 degree angle cuts on all 4 boards, and use the miter saw.
This project does not take very long, and you’ll have a finished project your children can enjoy for years to come. For bonus points, add a coat or two of paint to your picture frame. Finally, decide where you want to put their frame, whether setting it on a shelf in their room or hanging it from a wall.
Bonus: Put a picture of your child playing soccer or at a dance recital in the picture frame they just made for added impact.
Similar to a picture frame, you can build a simple flag out of wood with your children for a 4th of July decoration. This could be a great piece they hang on their wall in their room, or even downstairs on display as a decorative piece.
This flag design is nothing more than several pieces of wood that you fasten together. The size of the flag is entirely up to you, although these plans recommend using pallet wood strips to cut down on the cost and amount of work.
Once you find a pallet to use for your DIY project, determine how long you want the pieces to be, and use your jigsaw to cut the wood down to size. When you are looking for easy woodworking projects for kids, this is a great one, because the child is able to develop a good understanding with the jigsaw by making the same cuts many times over again.
You’ll also need to cut two additional pieces of wood, to be used as the support structure behind the flag. The length of these pieces will depend on how high you want your flag to be.
This project will also involve painting the unfinished wood, as you’ll need to paint the flag colors onto the pallet wood. You can go a variety of different directions with this. The muted color palate is in style right now, or you can go with a more solid look.
You might or might not want to ​add a poly finisher when you’re done painting. A polyurethane coat will help preserve the flag, and keep the paint in tact for longer.
Again, there are several designs for coasters you can make, with varying degrees of difficulties. While using a scroll saw is best for sophisticated designs, a simple coaster can be easy for your kids to make.
At its core, a coaster is nothing more than a circular piece of wood, sized large enough to be a base for a glass. As such, a simple wood project for kids would be to simple cut a properly sized circle out of wood.
To do this, draw the circle on the wood using some sort of guide – any even circle will do. To make the cuts, you can use either a jigsaw or band saw. A really nice band saw will probably be more accurate than a jigsaw, but these saws can be a little more challenging for children to use.
​On the other hand, it is relatively easy to cut the circles with a jigsaw, although it won't be as accurate or precise.
You can also step up your game and make a little more stylish coaster, albeit a little more complicated. Here is a really fun design for a minimal X-shaped coaster design that you can use a simple saw to cut the wood down to size for.
Don’t forget to add a polyurethane finish or paint to your finished project. Because you’ll be placing wet glasses on the coasters, they need a finish to protect the wood from the water.
This is a great idea for a woodworking project for preschoolers, as children using crayons are not at the point where they should be handling power tools. As such, this is certainly one that you’ll want to do the lions share of the work on, provided you have younger children.
However, this is also a wonderful way to give your children an intro into woodworking, allowing them to whet their appetite. You can place the finished product on top of their desks or in the study so it’s easier for them to see which crayons they need.
3/8” is the bit of choice because it most closely aligns with the diameter of a pencil. If you’d prefer to use this wooden holder for something larger such as jumbo crayons, measure accordingly.
Once you’ve got all your materials ready, it’s time to get started making your very own crayon holder.
First, you want to stack two pieces of 1x3 lumber on top of each other. Secure them with wood glue or use small br​​ad nails​. Wood glue is fine on its own but if you want it to be extra secure you can nail them together.
Next, you’ll need to outline the holes you will be drilling for the crayons. Grab the crayon, pencil, or tool you’ll be building the holder to store. With a pencil, outline a circle around the drawing device, one for each hole to be drilled. A different (and more accurate) option is to use a measuring tape and straight edge to ensure that your holes are all equidistant.
Now that you have an outline to base it on, take the drill with a 3/8” drill bit and create a hole until you’ve completely gone through both sides of the block.
Once you have all your holes, attach the final 1x3 piece of lumber to either end of the wood, following the same process as in Step 1. This is to add the base for the bottom of your crayon holders to make sure the crayons won’t fall through once you put them in this DIY organizer.
Bonus: A great brad nailer and some 18 gauge nails can make short work of wood projects like these that require nailing.
After the piece is completely assembled, you can opt to sand it down so it’s smooth, or you can also choose ​to spray a coat of paint on it. You can even decorate it with a “crayons” label and paint it fun colors—that way, not only will​ your toddlers be excited to play with their color pencils, but they get to enjoy returning them as well.
This is also a great project to teach your young ones about good organization of tools, and the value of organizing and putting things away after use.
Spinning tops are a classic favorite toy for children, and are quite simple to make at home with just a few materials. Made in less than 15 minutes, all you’re going to need are some dowels, a set of wooden toy wheels, some sandpaper, and a sharpener. Out of all on our list, this is probably at the top of our list of easy woodworking projects for kids.
Take your wooden dowels and cut them down to 3” lengths.
Take your wood toy wheels and sand them down to smooth out the edges.
Taking your 3” dowel, use a sharpener to create a point on one side of the dowel so that the top has something to spin on. There are a variety of ways to do this, but a sharpener is the easiest.
Lightly sand the new edge you’ve created with sandpaper, just to remove any rough patches. Let your child work with some sandpaper, but you might want to finish it off by using an orbital sander.
Twist the non-pointed end of the dowel into the wooden wheel. It should fit snugly, but if it doesn’t, feel free to use wood glue to provide additional support.
Paint if desired, but it isn’t necessary!
A wooden toy is one of the simplest DIY woodworking projects on our list, and yet is one of our child’s favorites of everything we’ve built together. And, you can accomplish all of this in less than 15 minutes.
Determine how large you want to makes the boxes, and what shape you’ll want for the box. Most opt for a rectangle of some sort, but you can go with a square if that’s easier.
You’ll need four sides and a bottom. It’s easiest to cut the four sides, and glue them together, before you measure the correct dimensions for the bottom. Again, a jigsaw​ or band saw will work for the cuts. We find the jigsaw to be both the easiest for kids to use and the safest.
​The jigsaw is a great saw for wood that isn't too thick. However, if you want to see how your child could handle a larger saw (and you have one), we have a tutorial on using a band saw.
Use ample wood glue, and make sure to attach clamps to each end of the box to firmly hold the box to shape. Once dry, you can add the bottom piece of wood and glue and clamp.
This box would benefit from some screws or nails where the corners join. This will help keep the box more solid and make it more durable. While not a requirement, it is recommended. Depending on how old your kids are, you might want to step in and do this part yourself.
These boxes will work well with any stain, paint, or finish, but feel free to add as you see fit. Often, the craftwork in painting a variety of boxes is as fun for the children as performing the beginner woodworking project is.
Bonus Idea: Paint your boxes with chalk paint, and your children will be able to write on the outside of them as they use them.
A caddy is very similar to the box that we just made, but it has some added features and design intricacies. Following the same outline as the box, you can make the caddy several different ways.
The first is by basically just adding handles to the sides of the box, like they did in this great project.
Another version is to add higher sides, and a wooden dowel, to create more of a tool caddy. This can be a fantastic project to do with your young woodworker as one of many father son woodworking projects, and they’ll have a place to store all of their tools afterwards.
We like this set of plans as a base, and we even recommend simplifying them so you can make them with your child.
You’ll need to cut a circle in the wood sides, which is where you’ll secure the dowel to the caddy. You can use a drill to cut the hole in the wood. This is probably best done by you, rather than your child.
While it sounds a little more complex, a bird house is really nothing more than a collection of ​many of the various wood projects we’ve listed. And, a bird hourse is a wonderful DIY backyard project that will provide years of entertainment.
You’ll need a four sided box as the bird house itself. One wall of the box will need a circular hole cut in it, to allow the bird the opportunity to enter and exit. Follow the instructions for building a wood box listed above.
You’ll want to affix a small landing platform outside of the circular hole you cut, so that that the bird had a place to perch and access the entrance. You can follow the instructions for the coat hanger hooks to apply this.
You’ll need to add a roof to the top of the box, so that the birds have shelter. It’s best to add an angled roof using a miter saw, but you can add a flat roof just by simply attaching another piece of wood that is the same size as the floor.
An alternative that will give you a sloped roof, but without the need for a miter saw, is to build one wall of the box higher than the others.
When you go to attach the roof, it will have a slope built in.
You’ll need to use nails or screws to attach it at this point, as it won’t have a flat surface for the glue to affix to. You could also simply make the two roof pieces of wood different sizes, as seen in the picture.
​Lastly, its essential that you either paint or add several coats of ​lacquer so that the DIY birdhouse is preserved from the elements.
Coat hangers are usually just a block of wood with hooks nailed side by side. There's nothing exciting about it, which is probably why kids just leave their jackets on the floor – they see it as a chore.
A lego coat rack gives a playful spin to an ordinary item! It can also motivate kids to hang up their jackets as they come in the door - creating the space that they hang their jacket on is a great motivator to help out more about the house.
The final output should look like the panel of wood that the hooks are nailed into, and is actually made of lego blocks attached together. There will be a set of four protruding circular studs in between the hooks, which would give it the lego block look.
​Start with a long panel of wood. Consider the number of hooks you want to put in and their placement alongside the studs when deciding on the length.
​Cut the wood to your desired length, while the circular studs can be made by slicing a dowel rod into half-inch pieces.
You can also alternate the number of dowel pieces for the look of long and short legos. Use wood glue to attach them onto your wood panel.
Once they're secured in place, have fun with different colors of paint to give the illusion that there are separate pieces of legos.
The next step would require drilling holes into the points where the hooks will be placed and continue with screwing them on. Parents can take over at this point.
Once the hooks are screwed on and D-shaped rings are attached at the back for hanging, it's good to go on your wall.
This will be a fun project to do with boys and girls who are obsessed with legos. They get to satiate their obsession without having them leave loose pieces on the floor only for you to step on barefoot.
Those little toys can be so painful, but not anymore when they're on the wall instead of on the floor.
​Shelves can be beautiful pieces of furniture, and this circular shelf is a bit different and a twist on the normal. The shelf itself is eye-catching with its unique and unexpected shape, and it's worth all the stares.
​In simple terms, this circular shelf is just a circle frame with three panels of wood attached parallel to the ground to provide the shelf space.
Aside from that, you will need an attractive piece of string to hang the shelf with. ​We suggest suede leather, but it can be anything that could hold up its weight.
​This kids woodworking project could take awhile because of the gluing you have to do, so patience is a must. A good strategy for holding the pieces together while the glue is drying will also make the process easier and keep the mistakes to a minimum.
To remove the hassle of trying to learn how to bend wood, get three quilting hoops in your local crafts store instead and glue them together by the edges using wood glue. This gives you a wide enough frame to attach the panels of wood that make up the shelving.
They won't be the same lengths because of the circular shape of the frame, so measure each one accordingly then proceed to attaching them using the same wood glue.
The drying process takes about 8-10 hours. Keep the pieces in position during that ​entire time to avoid pieces accidentally getting glued the wrong way.
After it dries, sand down the excess glue that dried up at the points where the wood pieces meet.​ After that you can opt to apply the finish you like, whether it be paint or stain or polycrylic. Drill two small holes on the top right and left sides of the frame. That's where you'll insert the string. Create a knot so it won't slide back out of the hole.
It should be ready to hang nicely on the wall. Since the wood pieces are thin and probably easy to knock down, ​you might want to hang it higher than your kid can reach​. You can put little crafts or awards on display in the shelf.
A wooden playhouse may be a little too advanced for little kids to take on. However for your bigger kids who can handle some pallet wood, screws, and nails, this is a DIY project that will unleash their creativity from making it to playing in it.
Resourcefulness is the key here. A playhouse can be as simple as a dollhouse look-alike sans the multi-level floors and miniature furniture or as big as a little shed on the backyard where your kids can hang out in for outdoor activities. Regardless of the size and complexity, this one will be similar to our DIY dog house article we have on this site, so check that out if you haven't already!
​Again, whichever option you choose, it can be doable with wooden pallets, which can come free from your local hardware store if you ask. They might have a surplus of wood that end up in the trash anyway.
There’s no specific blueprint to a playhouse but every model needs floors, walls, and a roof. The pallets of wood already make it easy to construct them if you know what you want.
Have a plan for how big you want your playhouse to be and what it looks like. Just like making a baby crib out of pallets, you will line the pallets parallel to each other and nail them together to create the parts mentioned. The desired length will depend on the size you decided for each.
Take inspiration from this wooden playhouse made from scratch. This will ignite your kids’ imagination as they need it to produce the ideas for creating the playhouse and all the pretend play that will happen in it once it’s finished.
The usual size of the goal is 24 feet wide and 8 feet tall. For something you’ll likely put in your backyard, it’s not realistic to build a goal that big. For a beginner like your child, it’s not all that necessary too.
Take the necessary alterations needed to scale down that size to one that will fit in your backyard. You will need three pieces of the longer post and four of the shorter.
You’re trying to create a rectangle shape from the front and a triangle on the sides. Nail the wooden posts together so that it builds a 3D right triangle. You can follow the tutorial for how you can nail the posts step by step.
Soccer goals are usually made of metal but they can be made out of anything, including wood. What you make will be sturdy as long as you’ve nailed the posts securely. It doesn’t even have to have netting to be usable for home practice.
Sports like soccer have many advantages and benefits beyond physical health and strength. By starting this active game while your child is young, he can collect the learnings early on to help him later. It will be more exciting when you actually build the goal and play with it together.
There’s a reason legos are a favorite among kids and parents alike. Except when they’re accidentally stepped on, legos or building blocks in general have several advantages that contribute to fast development in early childhood.
It doesn’t only further the intellect, some benefits include developments in the physical plane like hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, and spatial awareness.
Blocks also sharpen creativity and problem solving among kids. Some block sets also have puzzles that provide a hint for how to build them together. Others are blank, leaving your child to determine what he or she creates with it.
This tutorial tells how to make blocks of different shapes and sizes. These are mainly squares, rectangles, and triangles, which will be easy for your child to make. Though this might require advanced tools like miter saw, it’s not totally dangerous for your kids as long as they’re under your supervision while using it. Besides, that little risk is beneficial to your kid too and with these building blocks, there’s minimal chances of grave accidents happening.
For safety, you can do this activity with an older kid and let the younger ones play with his or her outputs. Each activity benefits the other in some way and keeps them engaged for some time.
You can use paint to put numbers or drawings on the blocks instead of using tools. It’s more playful and child-friendly this way. You can also teach them a thing or two about sharing and working together in this step. Just make sure you let the paint on the blocks dry completely before letting your kids play with them.
Ultimately, building blocks have plenty of possibilities for your kids’ development and entertainment. It doesn’t get old and feels more sentimental as a do-it-yourself project.
​If you kids aren't as excited about building things in the yard, bringing in little bits of nature to your house changes up the vibe indoors by a lot. Whether it's a potted plant or some fresh flowers, ​these little actions can freshen up a room and brighten the feel.
Pick up some wild flowers or long-stemmed leaves on your next afternoon family walks, but not before making this easy bottle vase holder that can hold your picks in a rustic, boho, Pinterest-approved display.
This project is the ultimate for making use of free items that typically get thrown away. You will need three or four empty glass bottles. You can reuse old soda bottles as you'll throw them out anyway.
​Depending on your preference and the size of the bottles, prepare four boards of pallet wood.
The measurements of two of them should fit all the bottles and have space for the other two panels of wood that will connect them vertically at the sides.
The other two boards should be measure up to the the neck of the bottles, including the thickness of the wood of the base and the top holder.
When attached together, it should create a rectangle shape that looks like a ​picture frame for the bottles. For the wood board that goes on top, drill holes on them. The number will depend on how many bottles you decided on, and the diameter will depend on how wide the neck of your bottles are.
Finish the frame by gluing all sides together using epoxy resin. Once it's able to stand on its own and feels sturdy enough to hold fragile bottles, put them into the holes and start looking for flowers and leaves to put in them.
Bonus: Baby's breath will look extra dainty in these bottles.
​Historically, one of the most popular collectors items (especially among stationery geeks) ​are stickers and stamps. Stickers are pretty easy to make nowadays with affordable high-quality printers. Stamps, on the other hand, require a more hands-on approach, but make fantastic DIY Christmas gifts.
The wood that you'll need can be taken from a fairly thick tree branch. Cut them up into 4 - 5 inch slices using a small hand saw. Using sand paper, smooth both sides of the freshly cut branch and their edges.
Grab some things from the toolbox that can be used for a pattern, like the hexagonal nut, from a brand like Craftsman or Stanley. Place it on top of one side of the branch, then hammer it down into the wood until it makes a dent with its shape. You can do this as many times and it's actually recommended to create a deeper dent.
Continue doing this with proportional distances between every dent to make a repeating pattern. Feel free to get creative and think of other things to hammer down for different kinds of prints and patterns. Think of it as similar technique to when you're DIY-ing patterned wallpaper when painting a room.
Use the sandpaper on the flat tops one more time. When you're happy with it, cover it with one coat of paint and stamp onto paper. To protect surfaces around your house from being stained by the paint, put a towel underneath the paper.
This tent is by no means like the one you use for outdoor camping in the wild. But, it's good for other outdoor activities like picnics and family hangouts by the beach. Indoors, it could also be an alternative to your makeshift forts – no sofa cushions and duvets needed.
It only takes a few minutes to create and doesn't require that many materials. Only four panels of 42-inch wood and a 48-inch dowel rod are needed to make it stand. The rest of the tent will be made up of the fabric, which is the cover that cascades down both sides.
First, start by drilling holes as wide as your dowel rod on all ends of the four 42-inch wood. Put the wood together by twos, then put each end of the dowel rod through the top holes. Instantly, this creates the skeleton of the tent. No jigsaw or sabre saw needed.
When the wood on either side are are separated, it should open to a triangle shape that tents are usually shaped as. The final step is draping the fabric on the rod.
First, make sure you have the right measurements that align with the wooden skeleton tent. The width of the fabric should be as long as the dowel rod, while the length should be able to cover from one end of the wooden panels to the other end on the opposite side.
To make sure they stick, sew the center of a 15-inch ribbon on each corner of the fabric and tie it up on the hole that you drilled in the beginning. Put another fabric or a blanket underneath for a place to lie on, but other than that, your 10-minute play tent is finished.
​As an option, you can also consider applying a thin wood stain to ​extend the life of this DIY and to give the wood a darker stained look.
Bonus: Tackle this project at the same time as hanging some string lights outside. You'll be able to camp basked under the warm glow of your outdoor lighting.
​Rulers are one of those things that you buy over and over and lose as many times. If you ever find yourself with an excess, use it to make this wooden ruler folder holder. The name itself is as exciting as this DIY project.
Six long wooden rulers, one 12-inch 1 x 4 wood, and two 6-inch 1 x 4 pieces of wood are what this holder will be made of. To assemble, you'll need nails, wood glue, hammer, and a drill.
The basket-looking holder will have a solid base and sides, while the front and back will be where the rulers are going to be attached in a striped pattern.
Start by laying out your 12-inch 1 x 4 and attaching the two 6-inch 1 x 4's to the sides in a vertical orientation. Wood glue will work just fine but if you want extra security, ​hammer ​in two nails for each side from the bottom of the base. Glue is a suitable option for children but you might need to take over the hammering, depending on your kid's age.
Once that's completely attached, line up the three rulers on each side of the basket and mark where each one will be placed on the wood on the sides. Drill holes on your marker on both the ruler and the side wooden pieces.
Glue each ruler where they should be and nail them down on each end. Do the same thing on the other side of the folder holder. After you're done, place it on your kid's study table or shelf for organizing their folders and notebooks, to help keep your house clean overall.
Those gnarly circle stains on the coffee table are caused by hot mugs and cups or the sweat of cold glasses. Most of us have had to learn the hard way not to make the mistake of forgetting to use coasters. For such a small thing they can save your furniture from those unattractive stains.
These X-shaped coasters do not protect from the sweat of cold glasses, but they do elevate your hot mugs so they wouldn't ruin the wood or paint of your table-- especially if your table isn't sealed by some stain or finish​. Plus, they look extremely on-brand with the industrial interior trend nowadays.
Balsa wood is a type of wood that is softer than others, so there's no need for a high powered jigsaw. It makes this project super safe for kids and doesn't risk too much with very sharp tools.
You can get a quarter-inch thick balsa wood strips from any hardware store. Cut them down to 4 inches long using a heavy duty pair scissors. Yes, scissors will work, but probably the kind you use for gardening.
Using a ruler, mark the center of each wood strip. This will be where the two strips will be glued together in an X. Continue on with applying a small drop of wood glue on one of the wood strips and aligning the other accordingly.
Once that's dry, line up another wood strip to one “leg” of the X and mark its length. Cut two wood strips to that length and glue them on each side of the overlapping strip. This straightens out the X, so your mugs will be stable when placed on top.
Don't forget to sand down the wood whenever you cut them. If you want, sand the finished product after you're done to smoothen out all the surfaces. You can opt to stain it with your desired finish, paint it black for a minimalist aesthetic, or coat it with your kids' favorite colors so they would have a coaster of their own.
Nail string art is not a new thing. Even parents nowadays probably used to do these as school projects when they were still students themselves. Schools nowadays tend to get more advanced with technology. If this doesn't end up to be an assignment of theirs, make it a weekend family bonding activity instead.
This project is, for the most part, about looping yarn over and over around nails in different directions. What you'll end up with is a 3-dimensional graphic of a symbol or letters and words.
For this DIY artwork, pick a piece of wood that's at least half an inch in thickness. Yarn will fill up the insides of your pattern. We suggest one with a gradient so that there's more than one color. Other materials include scissors, hammer, and small nails.
Cut the wood into any size you want depending on what graphic you'll make. This is optional but if you want a darker color for the wood background, paint over it with an even coat of wood stain.
Google is a good resource of outlines for symbols, clipart or fonts that you like.
Print it out in a way that it fits the entire paper to maximize the size and to keep it close to the size of your wooden canvas.
​Cut the outline, tape it temporarily on the wood, then start hammering the nails around the sides of the paper with about 2 centimeters of distance between each nail. Removing the paper guide, straighten out some nails by tapping from the sides.
On to the fun part, tie a knot with your yarn on one nail to start. Fill out the insides of your symbol or letter by looping the yarn onto other nails and around the sides to fill the outline. Once you're happy with how it looks, direct the yarn back to the nail where your started and tie another knot to secure it.
Related: Pin Nailer vs Brad Nailer - Which is Best for Your Woodworking Project?
It's simple that your kids can just have fun with it and still end up with a creative piece. It's almost impossible to mess this up. Afterwards, you'll have a nice display to put up on your walls without having to spend hundreds on pieces of art.
A lantern sets such a good vibe in a room. It's the perfect mood lighting without the need for electric lamps. Candles light it up and it instantly illuminates the room in its shaded glow perfect for relaxing nights spent inside.
This popsicle stick lantern is very easy to make and is made up of crayons, wax paper, popsicles, and tea candles, which you probably already have a supply of in the house.
Using scissors, cut shavings of crayons onto a sheet of wax paper. Put different colors that you want to see illuminated by the yellow light of the candle. Once you're satisfied with the combination of colors, cover it with another sheet of wax paper, creating a frame much like that of a picture frame or a mirror frame.
With a heated clothing iron, melt down the crayon shavings by passing it over the top of the wax paper. The melted crayon shavings would also be the glue that sticks the two wax papers together. Set it aside and let it cool for later.
Create eight square frames using popsicle sticks and glue. Going back to your wax papers, trace four squares the size of your frame on the paper and cut it. Glue the sides of the square wax paper in between two popsicle frames.
You should now have four popsicle frames with colorful wax paper. Create a lantern by gluing the sides of the frames to make a 3D square without a base and top. Once it's dry and stands on its own, light a tea candle and cover it up with the popsicle paper lantern. You can also paint the popsicle sticks as you would pallet wood, but just make sure to paint it a neutral shade so it doesn't overpower the design.
Making this lantern isn't risky at all. The most dangerous it can probably get is forgetting and leaving the candles to melt. The whole process of creating this will be great fun for the kids.
There's so much you can do with popsicle sticks, as you'll see as you go through this list further. This popsicle stick basket demonstrates how strong it can be even though they're just glued together.
This basket can be functional in the household. It could be used to put fruits in and will be fun for the kids to make. Using just glue and popsicle sticks, you can make it however big or small you want it. Just know that because this project is solely put together by glue, expect to wait around a full hour before this dries completely. The glue also doesn't ​have to be any special kind though, it can just be the white glue you use for crafts.
First, create a hexagon with the popsticks by connecting them at the ends using the glue until there are six sides. Pile up on those six sides by gluing more sticks on top of each other. The layers of sticks will really depend on how high you want the basket to be. Note that you can just add on later so don't go to town with the sticks.
To create the base, glue one stick a little bit closer to the middle. It shouldn't be aligned with the one at the bottom. Pile on the same shape while going in little by little on each side of the hexagon.
You'll end up with just three sides and a smaller hole in the middle. Put glue on the topmost three sticks and line up the very base of the basket so the hole will be covered.
Flip it upside down and there you have it! If you want the sides to be taller, just add more layers of popsicle sticks. Otherwise, you're done!
The best way to learn is through application. Learning by doing, so they say. There's plenty to learn in doing this icosahedron lamp, mostly about shapes and even those complicated mathematical terms, if you will. Even the name itself would send your kids furrowing their brows in wonder what that is.
In simple terms, it's a type of polyhedron figure with several plane faces.
An icosahedron in particular has 20 triangular faces. That's what you're going to create with the popsicle sticks.
It starts off with a “basic building block”, which is just the triangle. It's three popsicle sticks glue together at the ends to create three sides and three corners.
​This tutorial walks you through it step by step, with a little bit of playing around in between. As you move along into the project, you'll discover many more shapes and patterns you can create from that basic building block.
If you followed the steps successfully as intended, you should end up with a geometric lamp that you can either display with a candle by the kids' nightstand like a regular lamp or hang on their room's ceiling with an LED light.
​If the fear of heights is not an issue for you, being on stilts can be quite fun. Making beginner stilts is surprisingly easy, and not that dangerous for kids to make and use.
First, you must decide how tall you want your stilts to be. For a complete beginner, one foot can be enough to get into the feel of being on them. For safety measure, this particular beginner stilts we're going to make can only accommodate a maximum of three feet. It's safer for kids and the base itself will have to be made stronger for a height higher than that.
While standing, measure the length of the person who'll use the stilts from their foot to their elbow. If you're making it for your kid, this shouldn't be that long. Add the extra length that you want to that measurement and that will be the length of your stilt poles.
Cut two 2 x 2 panels of wood by using a jigsaw or whatever saw you have lying around into the length you determined. Make sure at least one end of each of the poles are flat as these will be touching the ground and ensure stability.
The next you need to create are the footholds, which is where the user will put their feet.
Using the excess of the 2 x 2 wood, measure their foot and add an inch to the width that you will cut it to.
​Set it aside to make the support it will be put onto. The support are usually shaped in triangles wherein two sides of it are four inches long. Nail the support wood onto the stilt poles. To make sure this part is done securely, you can use a brad nailer. (You can check out our tutorial on how to use one here.) Measure it first with the footholds and position them on the stilts where the footholds are exactly at the end of the second measurement you took, which is the length of the user's body up to their elbow.
After nailing the support at the right place, take the footholds and nail them perpendicular to the support. The nails should be diagonal so it's facing and going through the poles and the support. It should fit and align on top of the support with one side flat to the stilt pole.
​Hammer down long nails if they're protruding outside the wood so as to avoid any accidents and injuries if someone happens to fall from the stilts. This part is optional, but you can also use some type of wood filler to cover up the holes to avoid any safety hazards for your kids. After that, you're done and ready to try out the stilts!
We've included a few more advanced projects that you can do with your children. For some, they take more material. For others, they take more time. For each of them, they require more precision.
These are great projects to tackle with older children, or for those that have already completed some of the easier woodworking projects. These advanced projects also give your child a little more opportunity to be creative and inventive, as the projects are much more open ended.
The ship in a bottle used to be a popular nautical memorabilia, usually gifted during those maritime eras in the past. It celebrates and glorifies the magnificence of the seas and the large vessel.
The craft isn't a lost art in our time. It still mesmerizes, but mostly because the construction and the careful placement of the ship inside the bottle requires a lot from the maker. Usually, what we make nowadays are ships made of barbeque or popsicle sticks.
This tutorial makes use of the latter. The materials are simple but there are many. A ship, even if you're only trying to make it look like so on the outside, can require a lot of things as there are as many parts.
You'll need to create a keel, deck, walls, and masts that make up the shape and the parts of a ship. The tutorial explains it in detail. For those parts, about 300 popsicle sticks are to be used. Other materials can be found in your home, while others can be easily found in the hardware or crafts store.
This project, though a little too specific and measurement-heavy, is kid-friendly. With parental guidance and help, this can be done while watching television. Just make sure you allot a lot of time because the glue's drying period can take up so much of it.
Whether it's a school project or just a summer activity to pass the time with, this popsicle stick ship is made to impress. It can be used as a realistic model for the kind of ships that were around during expeditions in the olden days.
​Kids and adults alike can get excited about a gumball machine at the mall. Some would even buy a miniature one from candy stores, but mostly because of its cute and adorable look. It's technically not a machine, which is good because it means it will be easy for you and your kid to DIY it.
​This jellybean dispenser instructable tutorial teaches you how to create the dispenser that delivers a jellybean from an upturned mason jar into your hands by sliding a drawer-like mechanism from the wooden base.
The end result seems simple enough but this project actually requires a lot of materials and tools. It includes the use of a drill bit, scroll saw, hammer, and needle nose pliers, so assistance from a supervising adult is a must.
Related: If you're looking to pick up a good cheap scroll saw, we've found the best one for you.
This dispenser is made specifically for jellybeans, but it can be modified for larger candies and bubble gums.
You can use the same mechanism for both though because you'll have to make the holes on the wood a bit bigger to accommodate the size of candies larger than a jellybean.
​​That means you can make as many of these as you want for different types of candies. The drilling and cutting of wood are the only aspects of the project that makes it risky for kids, but the rest of the steps and the use of it is suitable for kids. Since it dispenses one jellybean at a time, this also makes a fun moderator for the amount of candy they eat every day.
Admit it, kids have the weirdest collections of found things. Little trinkets they pick up from everywhere or given to them that they feel sentimental connections with. Give a box to a kid and they won't run out of things to put in it, whether practical school supplies or unexplainable little things they want to keep for no reason.
Boxes with drawers are ideal for kids for better organization than just a mere box with a top cover. This bandsaw box ​is also a great project when you're looking to start woodworking for kids. The curves and soft edges are easier to cut with a bandsaw and doesn't pose much risk of accidents.
Since this box can be made from a single piece of wood, building this box takes it easy on the materials. Aside from the wood, you'll need paper for layouts, a bandsaw, sand paper for smoothing down the surfaces of the wood, clamps, and wood glue. You can also ​​use some felt paper to glue to the box if you prefer.
​To be clear, this project isn't necessarily difficult. However, it does take a bit of work, and quite a bit of patience. In addition, it is probably a bit too complicated for someone brand new to woodworking, so we put it in the advanced section. This tutorial, however, can explain the whole step-by-step process in great detail.
As this involves more complicated tools, it might be be appropriate for kids who are a bit older. This would be a good introductory project into the art of woodworking.
In a day and age where so much time by children is spent behind a screen, these DIY​​​​woodworking projects for kids are fantastic. They are a wonderful opportunity for you to spend valuable one-on-one time with your children, while also fostering their creative spirit and hand-eye coordination. Enjoy our ​list of simple wood projects for kids, and let us know in the comments if you have any others to add.