Something for 9yr old to make

Well, thanks so much people, for an amazing selection of ideas. Just to answer Dalboy's question, I have a good metal workshop with lathe, milling machine etc. but my wood workshop is limited to a good bench and hand tools, no wood turning lathe. I too saw the Hannah Fry prog and that was an excellent demo of a simple electric motor. I think that from all the ideas we will be able to fill the time very profitably! Thanks again to all. David

Hi David the first things I made with granddaughter was a dice. I piece of square aluminium saw off and help to face ends on for jaw chuck and Stamp numbers. We also made a hexagonal dice with Y and N stamped on sides for a yes , no game.

David

The second part of my question was what is he into the reason I asked the questions was that I have many plans of things to make a lot of them are free to use so copy right is not a problem. The others I would not be able to share as they are under copyright

My lad built a basic Roman Ballista with me, mostly from 6mm sguare wood and string. The wheels came via a budget mulit- hole saw and thin ply or you make the stand version. A bit of 2mm or 3mm dowel provides the bolt.

Not too long to build and needs tuning to get some range (it's all in the number of string turns and twists of pre-load).

Pictures all over the web

An early woodwork project at my school was to shape a fish out of a block of wood - coping saw to get the outline, rasps to get the shape and the usual sandpaper to finish. Even a pretty rough one was recognisable as a fish, so that was encoraging, and the more effort put in, the better it looked. Then a square wooden base and a dowel as a stand.

Rob

Hi Dalboy, thanks for your interest. Unfortunately my grandson isn't 'into' anything really apart from Lego. He does like to 'design' things on paper, like submarines but actually building boats or submarine models would tax his ability to stick at something. I like the many suggestions like a Roman Ballista from Dave Halford or Hannah Fry's electric motor. Let's hope for reasonable weather to be out in the workshop over Christmas!

Remember he is only nine, ......or will my 8 1/2 GS learn alot this next 6 months? Five year old has "way to go", but always keen to help ???

We have been working on a "soap box trolley", for some time and it improves every time we have a session, must be short though. If you end up machining etc they get bored. I set up ready made parts for them to "find". They always ask for a go on the morticer, only safe machine in my arsenal to my mind for a nine year old. Metal bending on the jig is always requested, with supervision of course.

Anything safe that stop youngsters wearing out their thumbs is great in my mind.

Built a oversize "tank" with the daughter once, with cd discs and wooden cross pieces, not sure how safe that was with the tensioning? Not to sure about rubber bands myself these days.

Good Luck.

Well there is also making Lego men out of wood I don't have plans but I made these pair nothing to difficult the only part that needed turning was the head and the features were burn on with a pyrography machine but they could be drawn on. They stand about 6" tall

Edited By Dalboy on 04/12/2022 18:26:25

Not exactly what the OP had in mind I guess but I'd have given my eye teeth for something like this when I was 9 years old:

Power UP

Edited By Peter Greene 🇨🇦 on 04/12/2022 19:23:24

Those Power-UP models look quite good. As a kid I used to use the Jetex solid fuel rocket motors on various planes, gliders and rockets. I remember having a glider with jet assisted takeoff. I used to make rocket planes which would be hooked onto the washing line, and when rocket was lit would fly up the garden. Still have several of the engines and I think some of the solid fuel pellets. I will have to dig them out and see if they will still work.

Colin

Bet you couldn't fly them from a phone

How about this? we did something similar with a bunch of scouts and hand tools. They were 11/12 ish and maybe took longer than you have...
Air engine 2 (woodgears.ca)

HI, just a thought, have a look at the BMFA (British model flying ass)

The BMFA Dart model kit that they do (£3.50) is very popular for the age group you are looking at.

A number of people can have a go.

Good luck

You could tke a look at the Axminster Tools projects, there are loads.

**LINK**

regards Martin