Father Son Projects

[Tbonedog]

My son is 3.5 years old and loves spending time with me in my garage. The trouble I'm having is coming up with little projects for us to do together. We have done a couple of those Lowes projects, but I was wondering if any of you had any suggestion. Wood, metal, whatever. Thanks!


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[freudianfloyd]

I was always trying to come up with projects to do with my boys. I found that making tool organizers were something they could do easily but feel like they were big boys. Basically i had several bits and odd ball drill bits, accessories, and had my boys take 2x4s and draw out lines and drill holes that fit the size of the bit i was putting in it. I have several of these around the garage. Simple and the boys had a blast.

 

[72Dodge]

My son is 3.5 right now also. Just a little thing, but when he got a "big boy bed" a few weeks ago, he needed a stool to climb into it. I had an old one in the workshop, so I got out some leftover blue paint, and he helped me paint it (with a brush, not aerosol). He did a good job and is very proud of it.

Otherwise, I will be watching this thread for more ideas!

 

[Travisnd]

I have a 6 year old son and 4 year old daughter who both love the garage. Lowes sells some small wooden kits that build cars, bird houses and the like which they have enjoyed building and coloring/painting. Harbor Freight also sells wooden 3D puzzles of animals/dinosaurs that both my kids love! Just made a 3D puzzle this past weekend of a ant.

 

[Streetbu]

How about a home made Jenga game?

 

[CJ7VFR]

How about making a pen/pencil holder for mommy?

Cut a piece of 2x4 into a six inch section, and get your drill out, and with your help, have your son drill a ton of quarter inch holes in it!!

Then get some sand paper, and again with your help, have him sand it smooth. Then clean it off. If you have an air compressor, have him hold the blow gun part and use it to blow out the holes. That is always fun!

Then have him present it to mommy, and see her reaction as she smiles and says what a great gift from my two men! And every time he sees it on the counter, with all of the pens and pencils in it, it will remind all of you of the time you spent together making it.

I can remember my dad doing this with me, and all the fun I had using the drill and making a mess all over the place when we blew the saw dust everywhere!

I bet my dad still has the one I made somewhere in his shop!

Simple things like this make the best memories.

Jim

 

[gtae07]

I used to "help" my dad build remote control airplanes.

 

[Whitworth]

3.5

Crayons, kid friendly paint, glue, scraps of wood, small nails and a hammer. Let him use his imagination. Lend assistance when asked.

 

[SouperGrover]

My daughter is 7 and loves crafty stuff. She's not as into the tool part as the paint part, so I cut out some shapes and silhouettes on a jigsaw and let her paint them. She wanted me to make a dog house for one of her toy dogs and I let her paint it.

My son was never into tools much as a kid but he's 14 now and his machine shop class in school is one of his favorites. At a young age painting and decorating seem to be their favorite

 

[OJ Bartley]

Tbonedog, my son is 2 and loves doing "projeks" with me. If I start a power tool while he's awake and in the house, the next thing I know he's at the front door putting his shoes on to come see what he's missing.

Does your little guy have a bench? There's a great thread here showing what some people have done. It would give him his own working area and could be a long term project for you to work on together:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=233841

 

[Tbonedog]

Some great ideas! Keep them coming! He has one of those cheap plastic benches, but I have been kicking around the idea of building him one. Thanks!


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[Neiller1989]

http://www.instructables.com/

plenty of ideas on there lads

 

[Voi]

When my younger son was three he loved helping me to take things apart. It all started when I picked up an old Honda Scrambler. He was obsessed with helping me tear it apart. I'd break a bolt free and he'd finish taking it off with a ratchet. Sadly the bike was too far gone for my skill level so I sold it.

I know you said little project but my son loved helping me do things as simple as taking his Strider apart and putting it back together.

[EDIT] Just remembered that my older son wants to build a bat house and hang it in our yard.

 

[TauntDevil]

Im not going to say I did many projects with my father as he tried to keep me away from automotive but one of my most memorable moments was working with him doing electrical stuff. It was great. Connect a thingy here, and there, touch that there, battery here, then twist that over there... all of a sudden magical powers combined and turned on the led light for the tail lights (or something else). Was great. Maybe work with him on making the bench and light it up with led's (because cheaper) together.

 

[sandslot]

I built a go kart with my son.....and now 30 years later he and I are rebuilding with his daughter

 

[Conner]

My son is also three. He loves "helping" with just about anything I am working on. I think he's a little young to really take on a project at this point; that will come later when he's a little older. For the time being he is just very happy being around me when I'm doing a brake job or installing trim, or whatever. I explain to him what I'm doing and allow him to "help" by bringing tools or holding parts while I am working on stuff. I just try to be patient with all his questions and distractions, and make him feel included (and still try to get stuff done).

 

[HoosierBuddy]

Lowes projects?

Here's my 3 year old helping me install a shift kit in a 4R70W.

Here's his older brother's replacing the tail lights on my mustang.

Now...these pictures are a few years old.

The two oldest are both Mechanical Engineering students at Purdue. The youngest is just a Freshman in H.S., but he has won numerous awards with his woodworking including "Outstanding Merit" at the Indiana State Fair earlier this month for an end table he built.

Getting them involved with tools was one of the best things I ever did for my kids.

Phil

 

[Trey T]

CO2 cars and race them. I'll do that with my girl, whenever she's old enough... lol

 

[66HertzClone]

My son and I have done many different projects, this one he says even today was one of his favorites. We ignored the math portion and just put it together. We made a list of materials and went to the local lumber yard to purchase them, we walked up to the counter and he said I need these things. The guys there know us so they had some fun with him.

We cut the pieces that afternoon and put it together, we launched small water ballons which was very popular. Over dinner that night he told me he thought it should have a trigger, we talked about different ways we could do that and on Sunday we made this trigger.

New he was able to get consistant launches and range. He wanted to hit his mom's car with a water ballon when she came home that night. We figured out the best spot to place it in the yard and I drove up and down the driveway so he could get his timing right. When she came home late that afternoon he was able to land one on the roof of her truck.

 

[ARCTIC_RAGTOP]

My oldest son (10) and I are into RC Trucks, have a seperate RC workbench, we each have one, and will take them out, break parts, fix the broken parts, take them out again, break them again, fix them again, he has fun with it. We built a soap box racer this year, he was very involved in building it, he got to try every power tool we used (except the table saw), he came in 2nd out of 50 cars this year!

My youngest boy (1-1/2) isnt into projects yet, although he figured out how the drill works the other day... but likes to come into the garage and play in the convertible. Its pretty cool, my dad used to let me play in the exact same convertible when I was a kid.

 

[Iron-Iceberg]

Water rockets are a fun project.
Lots of different designs on the web.
Here s one. http://www.uswaterrockets.com/construction_&_tutorials/cable_tie_launcher/tutorial.htm

 

[SuburbanRuss]

I remeber the first thing my dad did with me at around 3 or 4 was builing a wood toolbox. Then he bought me a pinewood derby car kit. that was fun.

He would also set up mini projects for me to learn how to use the tools correctly. I would have to drive nails, screw in different types of screws etc...