Making things for kids

[Mike Davis]

I like making things for my kids. It gives me a great feeling to know they love something I made and gives them a sense of family history that I never had.

This is the Little Engine that Could from the Little Golden Book. It was one of my first daughter's favorite books when she was two. She added the blue and red paint.

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Artax was a well ridden horse. He is old but will never be put out to pasture.

Cedar bed held together with twine, no nails, screws or glue.

Notice the curved top on the chest. I heated the plywood in the oven and held it in a press overnight to make the curve.

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My daughter wanted a harp for several years, she saved all of her Christmas and Birthday gift money for two years and ordered this kit. It took us a year to build it then she taught herself to play. Now she has a full size professional harp but she still plays this little one sometimes.




My second daughter wanted to play along with the harp music so we built this dulcimer for her.

I would love to see anything you have made for your children!

 

[JRD]

Mike,

Just about to head out the door to get my oldest son's wedding day off and running.

Your posting today sure brought back a lot of very pleasant memories.

Jim

 

[TracyP]

Mike

Those are some great looking projects. I am sure your kids will cherish them.

 

[Canuck]

Wow Mike!!!

They are all great looking toys AND practical and very beautiful instruments!!:notworthy

That train engine really caught my eye. In the pics, it almost looks like it is metal. The petina effect with the finish is spectacular!:eusa_clap

I am sure that these items will be cherished by many for a very long time!

Not sure if I could ever locate anything that I built for my girls!?!? They are either tucked up way deep in the attic, been trashed or broken or have a new home I am not aware of.:BangHead:

Thanks so much for sharing! The little doll bed assembled without glue is priceless!:icon_thum:icon_thum

Wayne

 

[ChrisMathes]

Wow, Mike! I bet most people here never realized just how talented you are!!! Those are great family heirlooms!

Thanks for posting those!

 

[CarvedTones]

Great topic!

I will have to come back later with something more complete.

Here is an old photo with very rough work I did for them. It was Thanksgiving about 3 or 4 years ago. They were underfoot and making my wife and MIL crazy while they tried to cook. So I popped out into the garage and custom cut them each something to sand and paint. I had to do it really fast so as not to lose their attention. I cut them each a 2 part toy that kinda fit together in about 5 minutes total with no patterns. There's a couple of planes, a sailboat and a space shuttle.

More later...

 

[LeftyTom]

Mike, you mentioned building a harp at the kitchen table, in another thread. Thanks for the pics. One would never guess it was built from a kit. The engine looks well-aged, thile Artax looks ready for another run.

Andy, that was quick thinking on your part, to get the toys ready to keep the kids busy.

 

[DaveO]

Mike I have not made anything nearly as nice and cool as you. But I am very proud of this kitchen set I made for my daughter. My wife found a picture in some expensive magazine and I designed it from that -

Another one that was easy but has seen the most use is the picnic table I made -

I actually have a whole album dedicated to Kid's stuff. http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/showgallery.php?cat=179&page=1
It's one of my favorite mediums, and the reward for making something for a child is greater than all.

Dave

 

[CarvedTones]

Very nice Dave! And in my earlier haste, I forgot to say how nice the stuff that Mike made look also. A different sort of harp/zither is on my youngest daughter's want list. Outstanding work all the way around, guys! :icon_thum:icon_thum

I have been managing to get in a little shop time, though a lot of it has been helping the kids do stuff. One of my seven year old boys told me he wants to make a small statue. They say you should give them modeling clay or maybe mix vermiculite with plaster of paris and let them go at it with a spoon. He wasn't excited about those options; he wants to do it more like me. :eusa_danc So I gave him a basswod sculpture blank and a low power rotary set. :mrgreen: I hope to get a shot of that later.

Next, I have a bad picture with a good story. A while back Hannah, my youngest, told me she wanted me to make her a shield. I found a pattern in one of my books and cut out the blank in poplar. It was very shallow relief, but with lots of details. Poplar was a lot harder to carve than I expected. When I was getting close to done I talked to her about how we might finish it. She wanted to paint it! A lot of the details were slits that would close up if we used anything water based or be difficult or impossible to see under paint. She knew by my reaction that I was disappointed and told me we could do it however I wanted, but all she had really wanted was me to cut a board to be shaped like a shield and trace the pattern on it so she could paint. I had gotten all excited about her wanting me to make something for her and done what I wnted her to want instead of what she really did. And she was willing to do it my way to make me happy. So what do you do in that situation?

Was there really another choice? Even in this poor photo, you can make out the faint lines of detail in the mane, you can barely see he has an eye (with iris/pupil). The tongue, tail and other spots have texture. Oh well. This piece is a keeper; only Hannah could ask for it and get it and even then I would be reluctant.

A few things didn't start out as being for them,but then they took them.

Here is Hannah with a Dulcijo, one of the first instruments I made:

The next two things I posted in another thread, but they were for my oldest daughter who loves animals:

This is something else that wasn't originally for them per se, but I rarely took it out without one or more little passengers:

I wish I could find pictures of the puzzles I made them. I had a neat stand up fish bowl puzzle that the fish came out of individually so I could let them eaach paint a fish and then put it back together.

I will get a few pictures of "together projects" - stuff they did with me - later.

 

[CarvedTones]

I promised to snap a pidture of Ryan carving today. Hannah was more than a little jealous, so she sat for one also...

 

[sawduster]

Wow, Mike! I bet most people here never realized just how talented you are!!! Those are great family heirlooms!

Thanks for posting those!

I can attest to Mike's talent and creativity, having spent an awesome Sat morning at his place picking up a bandsaw. I have seen that rocking horse in person and it is a fine piece of work :icon_thum What Mike has not mentioned is that is was all done with hand tools and the leather accessories he made by hand too !!
Mike is a true craftsman with a good imagination and the ability to make things without a lot of fancy tools . Heck he even showed me a turning he did long ago with a screwdriver still looks good after all these years

A fella could learn a lot hanging out with this guy :mrgreen:

Thanx for posting the pics Mike :eusa_clap

 

[RandyJ]

Holy Cow, Mike! Those are great looking projects. You have more talent in your little finger than I have in my whole body.
Thanks for sharing!

 

[Partman]

Mike, great looking projects. Hear is one made last Christmas for a little girl.


Danny

 

[Mike Davis]

I remember that Danny, a great project.

I played with Lincoln logs when I was little, they are great imagination builders and lots of fun.