Woodworking can be a serious business for adults, but woodworking patterns for kids is a great way to introduce them to the hobby of woodworking, while allowing them the opportunity to explore their creativity.
The following resources offer fun, easy, and free woodworking patterns that you can do with your children or grandchildren. Enjoy the art of woodworking together. Beginners and practiced woodworkers alike can choose from this diverse selection of woodworking patterns for kids.
Minwax is home to a gallery of free woodworking patterns and projects including woodworking patterns for kids. Some of the patterns on the kids’ page are really fun, but require extensive help from an adult. Minwax recommends using them as teaching projects to introduce kids to the joy of woodworking.
One of the projects that seemed easier and, perhaps, more easily managed by kids, with minimal assistance of an adult was a baseball cap rack. Once completed, the cap rack is perfect for the child to paint, show off , and use in their own room.
Free woodworking pattern and plan for a baseball cap rack. Kids could also build projects from the beginner woodworking section of free patterns which included a CD holder, CD rack, wooden stacking trays, and a magazine holder.
BuildEazy is another woodworking site with plenty of free plans, of which I found a couple suitable for kids. Of course, the project and free plans you choose depend on the age and skill level of the child with whom you are working.
BuildEazy had a planter box that can be assembled with your kid and is made of wood pieces with basic straight cuts. It doesn’t get much easier, nor do projects get much more functional than a planter box that can be proudly displayed around the home once the child has finished the project.
Scale this project way, way down (even to the popsicle stick building level) and you will have a free pencil box woodworking project for very young kids.
Free Planter Box Woodworking Plans from BuildEazy.com.
A kid’s sized picnic table is also among the free patterns and directions at BuildEazy.com. It is a project designed for older kids, which can be used by their younger siblings. It’s a great woodworking project for parents to work on with their kids.
This project simply requires a few measurements, cuts, drilling, and assembly. Cutting is made easy by a power tool, and a bandsaw is a great choice for small projects like this. Look at some good bandsaws at http://www.sawinery.net/best-band-saw/.
Free Kid Sized Picnic Table Plans from BuildEazy.com. You can also pick up a Free Kid’s Scooter Woodworking Pattern while you are visiting the website.
I came upon an obscure page in areaguide.com known as Kids KonstructionKorner that demonstrated free step by step woodworking plans to build Granddad’s Battle Fleet. These simply plans hardly require a pattern as they teach children to do their own woodworking using mostly scrap pieces of wood. This is the perfect project for kids to take on while you are working on a larger woodworking project. It allows them enough flexibility and creativity, with direction, to create an entire fleet of battleships.
*Free woodworking instructions for ship building from Kids KonstructionKorner. There are also free instructions and plans for a birdhouse, kid’s toolbox, and even woodworking patterns for stilts.
Discover free woodworking patterns at Woodworkersworkshop.com in the form of clipart. You will be directed to Arthur’s Clipart where the author recommends the clipart be enlarged and used as a pattern. Most clipart consists of animals. They are in color and offer vivid details for kids when it comes to painting their animal woodworking project. This provides a good start and instruction to beginning woodworkers who will eventually be able to find their own artwork to develop simple woodworking projects. It’s a great way to get kids interested in woodworking.
Woodworkersworkshop.com also offers free woodworking patterns that can be used with kids to build birdhouses and wooden toys.
Free woodworking clipart, birdhouse patterns, and wooden folk toys.
