Woodshop for Kids [Paperback]

Jack McKee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 12, 2005

Woodshop for Kids has you everything you ll need to know to get kids started using real tools to build real projects. Safety, tools, wood, measuring, hammering, nails and screws are discussed. Included are many tricks gleaned from Jack s 15 plus years of helping kids build with wood. Construction details for 52 projects are given. Projects range from the very simple like wood sanding, tops or puzzles for preschoolers to the more advanced like boxes, boats, yahoo stick or rope machine for older elementary age kids. Included are 75 illustrations by Rusty Keeler and over 100 photographs, many of kid created projects.

Editorial Reviews

Review

.....WOODSHOP's 52 projects .....all designed to excite kids, not overwhelm them. Introdutory chapters give excellent advice on safety and tools. -- Asa Christiana, Editor, Fine Woodworking Magazine

"Woodshop for Kids" systematically and simply demonstrates how to help children use real tools to make useful objects. -- Deb Curtis, childcare teacher, author, and adult educator

....Safety covered at length.....the project instructions are well thought out....recommended. -- Library Journal

I highly recommend Woodshop for Kids. -- MaryAnnKohl, Award winning author and educational consulatant

I love this book. Woodshop for kids is a great guide to growing a new generation of creative kids. -- Roy Underhill, host of the PBS series the Woodwright's shop

About the Author

Jack McKee has taught woodworking to kids for over 15 years. He has also worked as a mechanic, remodeled houses, built small boats, and designed equipment used by children s museums, schools and preschools. His first book, Builder Boards, tells how to construct a set of notched boards children use to construct their own playhouse. His articles have appeared in Home Education, Tech Directions, Early Childhood Today and Wooden Boat. He teaches Woodshop for Kids, a workshop for teachers. Jack lives in Bellingham, Washington, with his wife Candy Meacham.

Product Details

• Paperback: 202 pages
• Publisher: Hands On Books (September 12, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1884894534
• ISBN-13: 978-1884894534
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #524,259 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jack McKee is a builder, designer, teacher and writer. He has worked as a mechanic, remodeled houses, built small boats, designed (and built) equipment used by children's museums, schools and preschools and built an electric car. His design for Builder Boards and for a marble roll are used in children's museums around the country. Plans for a solar hot dog cooker, a marble roll and a fun house mirror (called the mirror steeror) are available free on his website: woodshop4kids.com.
He worked at a Montessori school teaching "shop" to preschoolers, taught woodworking and science for the local parks department, had a traveling science exhibit, worked with autistic children, taught "Woodworking for Kids," a workshop for teachers, and helped kids build boats and cardboard domes.
His articles have appeared in Home Education, Tech Directions, Early Childhood Today and Wooden Boat and on various internet sites. He has written two books, Woodshop For Kids and Builder Boards.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nurture your child's creativity, November 28, 2005

By 

K. Jones (Lummi Island, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Woodshop for Kids (Paperback)

As the director of a hands-on museum in Bellingham, Washington, and being the one responsible for selecting books to put on the shelves of our library area, I was immediately attracted to this offering by Jack McKee. I'm always on the lookout for this sort of material, since I like to include information in our library that's in keeping with one of our missions, fostering closer relationships between youngsters and adults. Not only does this book fit well with that aim, but it's a highly useful guide to getting started on building entertaining and useful things out of wood and other common household materials.

*Woodshop for Kids* contains information that any parent who understands the importance of teaching manual skills to youngsters will find essential, especially if unaccustomed to teaching. As an adult, it's easy to assume that certain aspects of building things out of wood are intuitively obvious. For example, if you've done a little woodworking yourself, you probably believe that using a saw or pounding a nail is such an obvious act that a child, or even an uninitiated adult, should be able to do it without instruction. Such is rarely the case, especially nowadays when kids start their lives immersed in television and computers, and schools have eliminated such "unnecessary" subjects as "shop" from their curriculums. In America, the old "do-it-yourself" days have vanished in the mists of time. We buy everything, including toys for our children, and we are much the poorer for it.

Whether you're an experienced craftsman who wants to teach youngsters how to use tools, or a rank beginner desiring to learn something useful yourself while having some fun with your kids, this is a great book. I've actually recommended that my own staff members read it as a guide to mentoring youngsters or non mechanically-handy adults in workshop practices. The initial four chapters provide an unusually clear discussion of simple woodworking tools, materials, and skills. Simultaneously, it sets a fine example regarding how to present this sort of material to a student, whether child or inexperienced adult.

The long fifth chapter of McKee's book devotes itself to a whole list of projects that kids can build or you can build with (or without!) them. They include puzzles, musical instruments, toys, simple scientific demonstrations, and many other interesting things. An appendix includes a tool list, possible sources for them, and how to build a couple useful tools yourself.

Instead of buying plastic gadgets that run on batteries for your kids, consider using this book as a guide for working with them to help them learn how they can delight themselves with what they can create with their own two hands. McKee has taught woodworking to youngsters, including his own, for many years. His book is a compilation of his own long experience in the field, and you won't find a better guide to the subject than this one.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A guidebook of creative and entertaining woodworking projects that young people can create, December 14, 2005

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Woodshop for Kids (Paperback)

Written by Jack McKee and illustrated by Rusty Keeler, Woodshop For Kids: 52 Woodworking Projects Kids Can Build is a thoroughly "user friendly" guidebook of creative and entertaining woodworking projects that young people can create, given age-appropriate adult supervision and guidance. Individual chapters include detailed instructions for 52 different projects, from a marble roll to a sailboat letter holder to a step stool; tips on how to find free wood and use woodworking tools safely; advice on acquiring and woodworking tools appropriate for kids; and much more. 179 black-and-white photos and illustrations round out this helpful and constructive guide to a stimulating, family-friendly activity.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars woodworking for kids, January 20, 2007

By 

C. Custer "lovin to quilt" (Halethorpe MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Woodshop for Kids (Paperback)

This book has laid out a plan of activities to make it fun to work/play with your kids in the workshop. Great book. My 8 and 9 year olds really liked it.