How to enthuse a 4 year old

[Fergie 307]

My daughter, about 5, came into the workshop while I was turning something and wanted to know what the machine was, and what it did. My answer was "a lathe, it's for making round things". This has become a standing joke. Now she's in her 20's, and on the subject of what I will do when I retire still tells everyone that I will be in the shed making round things

 

[johnnyb]

I once did a soap carving thing for a large scout jamboree. They all loved it. Next year ooh let's try proper wood and horror sharp things ....never again. Here's our bug hotel. Just simple finger joints(made by me) and 3 shingle nails in each corners that they could knock in (predrilled)

 

[Spectric]

I think the best way is to stir up interest in the world around them, as they grow then take them to places to show them our historical past like musuems and working exhibits like Beamish, walks in the countryside to get them in touch with nature and get them to love real books. What you do not want them to be doing is wasting time on electronic gizmo's and playing games. One of the places that got me interested in the engineering world was trips to the London science musuem, all those things that had been invented over the years before we had computers and reading non fiction books which I found fascinating.

 

[Filament]

As a parent who does a lot more practical and outdoors stuff with my kids than anyone I know I’m going to push back against the ‘wasting time on electronic gizmos and games’ etc. themes for a couple of reasons.
a) holier than thou is silly. You might have played war with your mates using sticks, but if you’d been able to play war with your mates in full immersive HD, you probably would have done.
B) it’s shortsighted. A copy of Minecraft for £20 can give a kid from a low ish income household living in a bedsit the equivalent building/creating ability (and space) of £20k worth of Lego or Meccano. Tons of these gizmos are educational and incredible.

As they say. Everything in moderation, including moderation right?

Sure sitting in front of a TV or device all day would be awful. But as part of a life of varied input and creativity, it can only be good thing.

 

[Spectric]

it’s shortsighted. A copy of Minecraft for £20 can give a kid from a low ish income household living in a bedsit

Exactly, one of the reasons that a lot of underperformers in the education system come from the poorer backgrounds is because these gizmo's are used to just keep the kids occupied whilst the parents do what they want. Ok letting kids have the freedom we enjoyed is now not such a good thing because of the dangers they could face.

but if you’d been able to play war with your mates in full immersive HD, you probably would have done.

I doubt it, we enjoyed our freedom of being out doors and liked reality to much, being stuck indoors for any reason was a bad day.

 

[isaac3d2]

At four yrs old, I reckon you could start him on some simple toys. Three bits of wood nailed together can make a plane. You can saw the wood up to show him how a saw works. You can pre drill the holes to make the nailing easier. That's a great opportunity to introduce the concept of working safely with sharp tools and hammers (assuming you do, of course ).
If he takes to it: Make a sketch of something else simple; a car, a train, an animal, then show him how you go from sketch to wooden parts to final object.
Watch out though, he'll be making better dovetail joints than you before he's ten!

PS: the trick is to have everything planned out (if only in your head) and ready to hand before you start. Kids have incredibly short attention spans and can easily get distracted whilst you sort through your nail collection. (Yes, I used to be a teacher )

 

[Filament]

used to just keep the kids occupied whilst the parents do what they want.

Eh? But you’ve been talking about doing things that didn’t involve your parents so weren’t they ‘doing what they wanted’ too?

Not saying it’s bad, but you seem to say the poor parents are bad for leaving their kids to occupy themselves whereas yours weren’t?

 

[Stanleymonkey]

Planes / Rockets / Spaceships - whatever you want to call them

Have a selection of offcut pieces. Some straight ones for the body and angled offcuts for wings and fins (avoid triangles as they are a nightmare to clamp)

Show or make some simple examples by adding wings to a 'fuselage' piece. If you have a hand mitre saw that runs on guide rails - he can cut the body of the plane into interesting shapes first. Some sandpaper stuck to a large board for getting rid of splinters and smoothing it all down.

Glue it up and paint it when the glue has all dried. Maybe a moonbase/space station stuck to a base board for the next project.

 

[johnnyb]

Humanity is making things and it has been that way for thousands of years. It's a bit like the primeval pleasure from a fire. But let's not kid ourselves it's not going to pay.....ever. I think I must have been the oddest child always making things. It's possibly a life skill in emerging economies who are making things for us but in this country its better to play video games or understand how to climb the ladder at the office if you want to eat.

 

[johnnyb]

The primeval pleasure of making things usually emerges when someone retires from there lucrative job in IT et al.......

 

[Barry J]

Made loads of stuff with our grandkids in the work shop, they love being in there with me.
The last thing we made was a large ‘delux’ bug hotel for their garden, I cut all the parts, we then went into our garden and collected the bits for the bugs to nest in, they then had to lay out the parts in order to build it, they loved it!!

 

[TheTiddles]

Interesting how the sexism slipped out straight away and then we’re back to the same old tropes, sadly predictable.

Anyone who thinks young people aren’t practical, hasn’t been around anyone young, perhaps for a long time.

If there’s an interest (in anything), just feed it and they’ll do the rest. Get them helping, joining in where appropriate, a 4 year old is plenty capable of setting screws with an impact driver or measuring diameters on a turned spindle with callipers, being the outfeed collector on a machine etc… Get them used to the right PPE and safe ways of working, give them proper answers to curious questions and they’re off.

 

[Terry - Somerset]

It is good to expose the young to a diversity of ideas and experiences (practical, intellectual, physical etc). It is our job as adults to equip them for their life ahead.

• as a child I don't recall any real constraints - I could use whatever tools I thought appropriate. Power tools were limited to an electric drill. Safety was partly taught by my father and partly through practical experience - one soon learned chisels were sharp.
• increasingly parents have become over-protective. Reducing the risk of injury to your child is understandable. At age 5 I walked to school on my own - dad or mum school run is now the norm. Life/existence is about learning to manage risk, avoidance is not a workable strategy.
• as a child in the late 1950s a career using "craft" skills was a plausible scenario for many. DIY competence was a normal expectation. Learning from Dad was commonplace.

Fast forward to the 21st C. Only a few children will wind up with craft or practical based careers. IT, social skills, relationship building, etc will be far more relevant to their future lives. DIY and craft will mostly be hobby activities - as today one may play music, paint, write poetry etc etc.

Like many I personally find woodwork an absorbing mix of creativity, hand skills, with a satisfying (if unexceptional) outcome in my case. I am happy to pass on that enthusiasm to others, but I am under no illusion it is essential to their future happiness.

 

[jetsetwilly]

My 4-yr old's nursery does woodwork - it's brilliant! When we did half an hour in the garage the first thing she asked for was safety glasses . I think all the advice about keeping it quick and simple is good, and feeding their worldly curiosity by sharing yours makes a huge difference I think - kids learn by copying, so if you find trees, or engines, (or celebrity, or your phone) endlessly fascinating, so will they.

 

[isaac3d2]

...kids learn by copying, so if you find trees, or engines, (or celebrity, or your phone) endlessly fascinating, so will they.

Yep! My youngest great niece just turned 2 and she can work basic functions of the smartphone like "swiping" and taking pictures before she can make a coherent sentence (other than "That's mine!"). An indication that her mum spends a lot of time on the phone. I've watched her texting and her thumbs are a blur!

 

[johnnyb]

My child (6) has been saying there " making a chair" in dt . He even pieced one together from a cornflake Box in front of my eyes! So this morning I put together an adirondack and when he gets back we'll shingle nail the slats on maybe try and screw the arms on. It's been over 18 months since we attempted the bug hotel and he's cognitively very much further on. I'm curious as to how he will get on now....my biggest concern is whether the plywood scrap I made the sides with will split when nailing!

 

[johnnyb]

Here's the part finished chair