Product Description

Boys and girls love woodworking projects! But most kids (and most parents) lack woodworking skills. That's where Kids' Building Workshop steps in. Craig Robertson, a master carpenter and renowned designer and builder of furniture, and Barbara Robertson, an art educator who specializes in teaching children, have developed an inspired method for teaching kids and their parents the basics of woodworking.

In this lively, fully photographed and illustrated book, the Robertsons present fun projects that teach essential woodworking skills. For example, the Spider-Web String Art project teaches kids how to wield a hammer, and the Drilled Name Plaque project teaches kids the safe and proper way to use a drill.

Building on these basic skills, the book moves on to intermediate-level projects. Kids learn how to make a sawhorse, a tool box, a step stool--all things that every carpenter must have to build bigger and more elaborate projects.

Finally, the kids are ready to take on seriously hip projects: a cricket cage, a book house, a dollhouse (and dollhouse furniture!), a lemonade stand, and a kids' play table.

The Kids' Building Workshop is a great primer that passes the hammer to a new generation of woodworking kids (and their parents).

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #37852 in Books
• Published on: 2004-06-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 3-7 - The Robertsons and their daughters, ages 11 and 9 when this book was begun, test-built the 15 safe and fun woodworking projects illustrated here. The first section, "Setting Up Shop: Getting to Know Your Tools," includes a basic introduction to hammering, sawing, drilling, block planing, and measuring. Next, "Down to Business: Building Your Own Projects" puts these tools and techniques to work in simple, yet cleverly designed, kid-friendly projects that increase in complexity. They require competent and willing parents/adults who will work beside, guide, and help youngsters learn woodworking skills by completing the suggested projects, such as bird houses, a tool box, a cricket cage, and a stool. Clear instructions, black-and-white photos, and cutting diagrams are included for each one. The amount of detail provided increases as needed. Adults are advised to take over on dangerous, repetitive, or boring steps. Emphasis throughout is on helping the kids have fun. Some vocabulary is introduced in context, but the lack of a glossary rankled in some instances in which words were mentioned, then not illustrated until pages, or even chapters, later. Of necessity for a book of this type, matters are simplified: in the discussion of hammers, for example, there is no mention of varying claw types, head designs, variously weighted heads, or handle materials. A practical and enjoyable introduction to the subject. - Joel Shoemaker, Southeast Junior High School, Iowa City, IA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author
Craig Robertson has been a carpenter and contractor for 12 years. He lives in Williamstown, Massachusetts with his wife Barbara. Barbara Robertson is Director of Education at Williams College Museum of Art and designer of Kidspace @ MASS MoCA. She lives in Williamstown, Massachusetts with her husband Craig.

Customer Reviews

woodworking for kids
Excellent book to teach kids woodworking. Well organized so you can just have fun with them.

Nailing Down a Holiday Present
NAILING DOWN A HOLIDAY PRESENT FOR THE YOUNG CARPENTER ON YOUR LIST

A family partnership has waved a magic wand over how-to books and brought out a present not only for the holiday season, but for all year long -- "The Kids' Building Workshop: 15 Woodworking Projects for Kids & Parents to Build Together."

"We hope to share enough tips, give enough good advice, and create enough enthusiasm to allow parents and children to develop basic carpentry skills," Barbara Robertson, former director of education at the Williams College Museum of Art, said of her book.

With her husband J. Craig, an experienced carpenter, and her daughters Camille and Allegra, the family has come up with projects to help children master basic woodworking, beginning at age six with adult supervision.

"Most kids can learn to hammer at age six and our kids could use saws by age seven. Eight-year-olds can do a beautiful job with simple power tools like drills, as long as a parent is right there working with them," she said in an interview with The Sacramento Bee.

While some parents don't allow children to use tools, hoping to avoid blackened fingernails and Band-Aids, this also means that many children don't get to master the use of simple tools at a young age.

The first section of the book, "Setting up Shop: Getting to Know Your Tools," introduces beginners to basic woodworking. Robertson covers hammering to block planing, and introduces simple projects to reinforce those skills.

The second section, "Down to Business: Building Your Own Projects," offers 12 kid-friendly projects from simplest to most challenging. Burgeoning carpenters begin with string art, a project that builds nailing technique, and progress to full-size lemonade stands and puppet theaters.

The book is written in clear, precise language that is accessible to both children and adults.

Robertson's upbeat instructions are interspersed with tips addressed to parents. Robertson's daughter Camille addresses her tips to kids. There is an emphasis on safety, creativity, and experimentation.

"Everything gets nailed backward the first time. The trick is knowing how to take a nail out and start over again," Robertson says. "Mistakes are part of the learning process. Making them helps kids learn that mistakes are OK as long as you don't give up."

"The Kids' Building Workshop: 15 Woodworking Projects for Kids and Parents to Build Together" is published by Storey Kids. It is available on amazon.com.

Robertson directed the Williams College Museum of Art's education department for more than a decade. She coordinated hands-on workshops, community outreach programs, museum tours, and installations. Under her leadership, the museum was recognized with the 2000 Distinguished Cultural Institution Award from the Massachusetts Alliance for Arts Education for its "instructional excellence and innovative approaches to art education."