G’day all
A bloke I ride with occaisionally has just changed careers from motor mechanic to school teacher – woodworking. His first contract is for the rest of this year teaching 12yr olds and the school has apparently no existing woodwork curriculum. He also tells me that any previous work has concentrated on the few machine tools, his preference is basic skills which means hand tools.
What he is after is some suitable project ideas for this ‘market’ that provide a good introduction to the necessary skills, progression, and are at least useful as presents for appreciative grand mothers. (all mine went to grand parents and great grand parents and have since dissappeared, but from memory consisted of things like a shadow box and a small dressing table mirror)
Can anybody suggest some suitable sources please?
PS: these will all be converted to metric for use.
Replies
Patto ,
Several things that come to mind are bird houses , planter boxes , napkin holders , and there are many others that can be made easily with a little materials and a lot of patience on the teachers behalf .
dusty
I seem to recall this topic coming up before. Try searching the archives and hopefully you'll find some discussions on this.
How about just putting out scores of woodworking magazines (the cheezy hobby kind, which always have simple projects, not Fine Woodworking) and let the students develop their own ideas? They'll be more motivated to build something they choose, and by having them all make something different they won't all be after the same tool at the same time.
Several projects come to mind, but a fairly simple one that I used for many years in an 'Intro to Woodworking' course is a foot stool.
Basic dimensions... top 14" x 7" and a height of 8" All the wood is 3/4" thick. One piece for the top, two legs and two stretchers, aproximately 2" wide for bracing the legs. Simple, but when you splay the legs out, use a scroll saw or coping saw to add a decorative touch to the legs and a plane (or router) to chamfer the edges, you have a nice project. If you want, I can get two different plans scanned and e-mailed to you.
Please excuse my poor conversions to metric measurements, but here goes...
Top 35 cm x 17.5 cm and 20 cm high with all wood 18 mm.
SawdustSteve Long Island, NY (E of New York City)
Patto, As well as those mentioned are trays for jewelry, small boxes with lids and even desk sets (pen holders with name plate). Some things require machinery to make but still give the basic gluing/assembly, sanding, and finishing experience that is what woodworking is about. Aloha, mike
Projects that mothers and fathers will love and thus shower encouragement onto the kids are the ones that will get parental support for the program and shower the kids with approval from their parents.
People have mentioned all sorts of good projects, another classic is the cutting board.
Since what you are working with is essentially shorts, I would recomend that he call around and try and find businesses that will donate shorts and offcuts and figure out the project backward from the supplies. Perhaps you can talk someone into donating tool time as well, perhaps resawing wood into thin stock or making shapes, etc.
I would also work out tool tracks so that you can have people working on different projects to spread the tool work around.
If someone is willing to donate stock or work, I bet that same shop is willing to do educational/career tours as well.
I remember my woodworking classes in school.. LONG AGO...
No power tools... As I remember we had to 'come up with our own projects'..
We had to draw it to 'scale' (what scale was a surprise to us) all different so we got no help from the other kids.. We had to pick the wood that would best fit the project.. List tools best used to make it and so on...To make a long story short.. We HAD to PLAN EVERYTHING...
As I recall we even went to mill/lumber yards and had to bargain for the price!.. We had to pay for the wood.. School did not have the money for that.. So I asked my grandma (who was paying for the wood.. what SHE would like!)..
I also had metal shop and it was Ok with both teachers (the same guy) to combine both shop projects into one.. I made a large serving tray.. Cherry frame with hammered copper tray insert...
I had a Mexican friend who's grandfather was a silversmith back in Mexico.. I asked him for help with drawings for the patterns in the copper (again OK with the teacher)..
My grandma is long passed on but she always had it on display in her house.. I think she really liked it..
I never worked so hard 'planning anything in my life.. BUT I think I remember each step I did and that was LONG AGO!
Gee.. I only got a B+ as I remember.. DAMN...
For my cubscout den which is younger boys 8-9 yrs we made tool totes. Open topped tool boxes with the ends shaped like the gabel end of a roof and a 1/2" dowel used as a handle. For boys this age I precut everything except the holes for the dowel which I let them do on the drill press. It was essentially an assembly excercise but you could modify it teach about any technique. I used this project in addition to teach about different construction techniques. Grooves to hold the bottom of the box which just floated. Rabbets to join the sides, etc.
Thanks for all of your responses, real grist to the mill.
I am hoping to participate a bit here and develop a bit of a library for my kids as well. The most interesting part of this discussion has been realising just how short of previous experience some of our kids have in using their hands (my extended family doesnt get a choice about dodging this sort of activity - if you want dinner then you participate in getting the work done so one of the adults has a chance to cook.)
Check out the local library for books on projects for children. Also, run a query both here and in Tool Time for children projects. Can also try Google "Woodworking projects for children" - I got a quick 27 hits with that and some had free projects
Check out the fine things they do in alaska...Dog sleds
Snow shoes
BoatsOur Scout unit has split, rived, bent and lashed a dog sled from an Ash tree. An 10-12 inch 8-9ft section will do it.Snow shoes are fairly easy using split ash or purchased stock, although you will loose more with non-riven grain. We made pairs for about $15 each.Boats are next :-) You can make an 8ft kayak from 1 sheet of 1/4 ply and half sheet of 3/4 ply and canvas.
this all comes down to the aptitude/interest level amongst the students.i used to coach kids that age and can tell you that it takes a lot to keep them interested. the final product needs to be interesting enough to make them want to build it, but not too challenging to build or they will get frustrated and either give up or half-#### it.machine tools are probably not a good idea, but lots of cutting long straight lines is tough with hand tools, especially kids wo may not have tried to do it before. your buddy will probably wind up making some cuts himself on a table saw or chop saw just to speed the process along.peruse some magazines for simple projects. the bird feeder is a good one, as would be a tool box or a planter. boxes are good because they involve basic woodworking skills, and kids love boxes. pick out a few projects and let the kids pick the specific one they want.
Good for your mate, he'll be facing challenges that that he can't imagine, right now. I don't know how the Australian education system works but in the US, there are Federal regulations as well as state. As a teacher, you are faced with many responsibilities beyond the subject matter and daily class activities. In my state, there are "Learning Results" standards that all classes must address. There is also a great deal of responsibility for student safety.
A class, in any subject, has a written guideline that is called a curriculum. The curriculum defines what you are trying to accomplish, why and how it will be presented and evaluated. Often, this is based on a needs assessment. This is probably the first thing that your friend should think about. Why is there a need for this class, what will be it's intended educational benefit, who is it designed to serve. It's hard to suggest a project without knowing some of these factors.
12 year olds, without special needs, taking a fun elective are a different group than 12 year olds with physical or educational and behavioral challenges. With either group, the use of power tools has to be carefully supervised. There are individuals, at that age, that are quite capable of learning how to use most machines, but the majority should be restricted to sanders, jig or scroll saws and hand tools after thorough and documented training. The length of the class, the number of participants and the budget are also deciding factors.
I've done a number of different projects with students in that age group. With small groups of four or five, we've built garden sheds, these were sold to fund the class and some small profits were donated to various charities. We did some public service work by building a concession stand for the High school sports boosters. In other classes, we had individual projects, these work well for large groups. One project was making band saw boxes in the shape of leaves. This included a couple of field trips, a nature hike to gather some leaf candidates that included species identification, and a trip to a saw mill to see logs processed into lumber.
Another project was making bird houses. This was also a multilevel educational exercise. A guided field trip to a sanctuary, identification of local cavity dwelling species and research on their housing needs. The groups that were involved with this class were students with behavior issues. Getting them interested and motivated was a challenge, so I turned the tables on them. I teamed them up with some third graders from another school. Once they had been through their first house, they had to prepare materials for the younger kids and teach them what they had learned. Having responsibility for the young ones, changed their attitudes. Some of these students had not been successful in school and were seriously "at risk" to drop out. Having a little success, receiving thank you notes from the third graders, pictures in the local paper, etc., had a positive effect for some.
There are many projects that a teacher can use, soap box derby cars, strip canoes, Pinewood derby racers, shaker peg racks, CD storage, Ducks Unlimited has a program for building nesting boxes. Whatever the choice, it's important for the teacher and students to understand the responsibility faced when using tools. When you have other peoples children under your care, you don't want to be negligent in safety training and supervision.
http://birding.about.com/od/buildhouses/
http://www.geocities.com/donpbk/bandsawboxes.html
http://www.bcpl.net/~tross/by/house.html
After 37 years teaching 12 year olds the fine art of woodworking, I think I can speak from 'some' experience. First, my classes had from 14 to 18 boys and girls, with a mix of very bright to mentally handicapped students, all in the same class. These boys and girls were using many hand tools PLUS scroll saws, wood lathes, drill presses, belt sander and, in some cases, a band saw. I even had a number of students use a metal lathe to turn a handle blank that would then go onto the wood lathe for final shaping. Yes, I had to stress safety at all times. Yes, I even made some special safety devices to better protect fingers at the scroll saw. The one tool that gave me the most injuries was a single edge razor that was used to cut balsa wood for one project. Finally, someone came up with a small 'miter box' that used a guillotine action for cutting the balsa. No more cut fingers. So... it all depends on a combination of the teacher, teaching safety, fun projects, and the magic of holding the kids attention that make woodworking a fun thing.
SawdustSteve
Of all of these ideas, I think as a first project, I would do a tool tote. They can then use that for the rest of the class to carry their tools around in and can then take it home and have mom and dad fill it wit some tools for them.
As a side note, my son is 12 1/2 and I have started 2 Hope Chests for him. One is for tools. I am slowly buying some decent quality tools for him. The other is for kitchen equipment (Goods knives and equipment). Like me he likes woodworking and cooking. I have not let him in on this yet. Right now he uses my tools under my supervision. When he graduates HS they will be his graduation present. During his junior and senior year, I will get him the basic power tools (skilsaw, drill, sander..) and then that summer he and I will make a "coffee table" type chest on wheels to house the power tools and what does not fit in the tool box. I figure that the tool box can go at the bottom of closet while this will house the more cumbersome power tools and yet server a function of ottoman/coffee table. I am tinkering out a design at this time that will be based off of a craftsman influenced chest or a shaker blanket/hope chest idea.
FYI - he still uses the tool tote he and I made for him 2 years ago. - It was just an open box with the ends higher and tapered and then a piece of left over clothes closet dowel inserted into a 3/8" deep hole on each side (made with a spade bit), and then a 2" #8 screw thru the hole made on the outside by the spade bit (I fit the end over the dowel and then started a pilot hole in the dowel using the hole in the side so I would know where the screw would reall be going - did that at each end, using the end that would fist on that end of the dowel and marked the dowel and each mating piece for referance). I did not glue it - that left a little play which in my mind made it feel better. We then finished it with an oak stain and 3 thin coats of satin poly spray on finish.
As a first project, it was all butt jointed on the 5 sides, held together with glue and screws but he was and still is proud of it.
Bird houses. The little creatures don't seem to mind if there are some chips, splits and corners out of square. The birds don't seem to mind either.
Tom
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