Great Joy

[Birdhunter]

I’ve built many projects that have brought anything from “darn that’s bad” to “wow that turned out great”. This last one brought me a great amount of joy.

I just built two identical child’s tool boxes out of some extra Baltic birch. I left them unassembled so the dad could “build” them for his boys, three and six.

The parents sent me photos of the boys playing with the tool boxes. The six year old was putting his plastic tools in his box. The three year old was putting his play kitchen stuff in his box and announced that he was going to feed the world.

Such a simple project but with great satisfaction.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Projects for kids are usually the most enjoyable, especially when they are old enough to help.
Parents too. I have built a few custom sized tables for my parents over the years too. They were very appreciative.

 

[mike_aa]

[member=15289]Birdhunter[/member]  Congrats!  Sounds like a real winner.  Pictures?

Mike A.

 

[Birdhunter]

I tried. Could not get the picture to post.

 

[ChuckM]

Image size too big?

 

[afish]

image size is the usual problem here.  I always need to downsize my image considerably to get it to post.

 

[Stan Tillinghast]

I would love to see the photos--perhaps an experienced FOGger could help with resizing?

 

[ultane]

If you are posting from a cell phone, the TAPATALK app might help.

 

[Vtshopdog]

This post revived memories of my now 28 year old son playing with his tool set when a toddler. 
I'd take a little scrap sheet of blue foam or sheet rock and start a group of tacks he could then hit with a small hammer, he flat up loved loved doing that. (oddly enough bottom shelf Home Depot real hand tools were half the cost of Fisher Price play tools.  I still have his little tack hammer in my wiring tote)

This summer my neighbor's 3 year old wandered over and with mom's permission I set him up with a bunch of screws in a plywood scrap and my impact driver that I had out- he had a blast, pretty much stripped all the screw heads and degraded my bit, but we both had fun.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

That reminds me of my little brother. When we were kids, he was a hammering fool. That kid would drive so many nails into a board that it doubled its weight. This was lonnnng before cordless drills or impact drivers.

 

[Birdhunter]

What was most interesting to me was that the boys’ mother said the simple tool boxes unleashed the boys’ imaginations. I lucked out and built something that would “click” with both a 6 year old and a 3 year old. I’ve never been blessed with children, but my observation is that very complex and function specific toys don’t leave much room for imagination.