Ideas for a kids workbench

[The Rusty Gear]

Anyone have a dedicated bench for the little helpers in your garage?

My oldest is almost two and is starting to be able to manipulate things well enough ie he can thread a nut and bolt, and turn a screwdriver. I'm not sure I'm sold on those plastic "kids workbenches" you see at Toys R Us, so I was thinking of building some sort of a small wood bench. Maybe with a plate with threaded holes in it so he can tighten down bolts etc. Maybe a vice and some pint-size "real" tools. He's also really good (better than dad) at putting things away

Give me your ideas! Pictures are welcome as well!

 

[Old Moparz]

Maybe build a real workbench for him, but just a smaller version. Try to use something that can easily be reused later for another project, or something nice enough that it will last & can be given away to someone with kids his age when he's too big for it.

What about adding a section to an existing workbench that's adjustable like what's in the attached photo?

 

[Bojans]

Great idea Bob.

Rusty, let us know what you build. I have a little section in my shop set aside for when my little guy (almost 16month old) gets a little bigger

 

[Stargeezer]

Anyone have a dedicated bench for the little helpers in your garage?.........Give me your ideas! Pictures are welcome as well!

AmericanSprout workbench for kids

I just recently purchased one of these American Work Benches. The "Fly Tyer" model. Top notch product. If you don't want to spend the money-copy this kids model style..??

 

[kartracer23]

I have one that my grandfather gave me 30+ years ago. It was one of those aluminum square leg / solid wood top deals-probably came as a kit. He just cut the legs off so it was a lower height-it's maybe 27" tall. Has a small wood vise on it, too. Funny thing is, I still use it a lot. Sometimes it's easier to work on things a little lower than a standard height bench. I've probably refinished the top on it 4 or 5 times now.

 

[johnnyz53]

Hi Star Geezer, This is John from American workbench, Thanks for the compliment on My Benches!

Hope you're doing well.

John
www.americanworkbench.com

 

[thdewey]

Ooooo... I haven't thought of upgrading my kids crappy Home Depot toy work bench. The little ones toy tools and the old childs small real tools don't fit in, on and under it. This must now be done this weekend!

 

[e-tek]

It's a great idea and I wanted to do the same for my guys, but what I found though was that they didn't want to use there "own", they wanted to use mine. So I bought two tall stools and they sit at a clean spot and do there thing there. My bench is 16' long, so there's room for all! When they are there, the youngest builds Star Wars Lego stuff and the oldest bangs nails and plays with my tools, but generally they just want to do what I'm doing:

 

[pipehack]

It's a great idea and I wanted to do the same for my guys, but what I found though was that they didn't want to use there "own", they wanted to use mine. So I bought two tall stools and they sit at a clean spot and do there thing there. My bench is 16' long, so there's room for all! When they are there, the youngest builds Star Wars Lego stuff and the oldest bangs nails and plays with my tools, but generally they just want to do what I'm doing:

That's cool.! I have girls and they think everything is gay , stupid and *****. Lego's are bad ***.