Woodwork?

[narnia]

We have acquired a lovely old woodwork bench for the children and need to source some wood. Max tells me she buys balsa wood on ebay so I had a look, but am not sure what to buy......................any ideas please?? I have also asked one of our parents whose husband is a carpenter if we can have some offcuts, which she says shouldn't be a problem, but I wonder if Balsa is easier for the children to work with, since it is softer and easier to cut? Also, I'm sure someone posted that they had found child-sized safety goggles.............................any idea who it was, or where they found them?? I DID order a pack of balsa from the consortium, but it was absolute rubbish, most of the pieces were no thicker than a hair!! sent it back with a snotty note............

[Guest]

You can use something called palownia ( not sure on spelling) but I have only ever been able to buy one lot of that a long time again. Softwoods like pine can be used but is much harder for the children to saw themselves but is good for using screws/nails/hand drills etc. I was told by a very skilled carpenter (my dad) that obeche could be used but lord knows where you can get that. Dense hardwoods like oak, apple or cherry are impossible to cut by little hands but if you can get some offcuts the smell and texture of them is unbelievable. I also use lengths of beading and edging from builders centres to add some different profiles and if you know someone with a saw bench/jigsaw get a broom handle cut into discs to make very convenient wheels

just looked on ebay and this is the kind of thing I buy, item number 320872917307

Edited June 5, 2012 by max321

[Melba]

How exciting! I presume you mean Paulownia, and I have two of them growing in my garden! I grew them from seed. The branches are hollow so if you cut them up they are fab for lots of things.

maybe I could go into business selling branches!

[Guest]

We use pumpkins for hammering nails into and using a hand drill on. Easy for the children but still requiring concentration. We also have some log slices and the children hammer nails and drawing pins into them. If you get the smaller log slice cookies they can drill holes into them and make necklaces.

 

We do also use balsa wood which we get from our local educational supplier but it used to be really cheap and we could get a huge assorted box, now it comes in titchy little packs of a single size... hopeless. :angry:

[finleysmaid]

try here for goggles and other woodworking items.....

 

http://www.muddyfaces.co.uk/goggles-safety-childrens-p-1053.html

 

also cosy have a great range but they are not online yet.

[Guest]

Love Cosy catalogue finleysmaid, the whole thing is one big wish list for me. I use swimming goggles for woodwork, small people size and easy to keep on

[finleysmaid]

Love Cosy catalogue finleysmaid, the whole thing is one big wish list for me.

 

humm i know i have a huge order to put in but the trustees have told me no more money this term oh well back to begging, borrowing and stealing again! <_< :rolleyes:

[narnia]

I love the cosy catalogue too, and have a nice big order to give them, BUT when I tried to phone it through, the woman who answered was so rude, I put the phone down and haven't bothered since.

Thanks for all the tips and ideas

[Guest]

I love woodwork!!

Best place for balsa, online, is Fred Aldous. The most useful pack is long chunky oblongs, about 40cm long and 5cm deep and wide. Great for sawing practice.

We use short stubby handled tools from Rolson which are child sized but have enough weight to actually hammer the nail in. Stubby screw drivers(Rolson), Fiskars beautiful hand drills and an electric drill which they love!

On a course it was suggested that you get offcuts from business of softwood e.g pine. We use some big squares of thick MDF as baseboards to work on to protect the tables. Bahco junior hacksaws and some short steel rules so they can draw lines and saw along those.

 

I love the sawing up a broom idea. We do buy packs of wheels from Fred Aldous but they are very quickly used and very expensive.

We add pens, wool, material, string and tape to the woodwork area and the outcomes are fab.

[finleysmaid]

thanks for the info edlee..brill. Can i be really cheeky do you have a risk assessment for woodwork.Mine is not really up to the job!! and where did you get training from? was is just an lea thing or did you access from another source.?

[Froglet]

I love the sound of woodwork with my children - I loved it myself as a child. In fact, I still have the toolbox which my dad made me when I was 7! Anyway, I was wondering how close supervision do you have when the children are woodworking? I'd love to try it next year but I feel I need to get all the risk questions answered first so I can convince others it's possible!

[finleysmaid]

I love the sound of woodwork with my children - I loved it myself as a child. In fact, I still have the toolbox which my dad made me when I was 7! Anyway, I was wondering how close supervision do you have when the children are woodworking? I'd love to try it next year but I feel I need to get all the risk questions answered first so I can convince others it's possible!

 

Helen ...have you seen the recent blog from alistair where the reception class are doing woodwork with a very low level of supervision? :1b

[Froglet]

I read Alistairs' blog all the time but haven't seen that one - will go and look thank you. I just know I have to have all my arguments mustered - I got question after question about the children baking without supervision. Don't get me wrong - no one's saying they shouldn't they just want to be sure I've thought about every aspect!

[Guest]

We have the tools available at every session and children can access wood and hammers and tacks whenever they want but they know not to use saws and drills unless an adult is available to support. We teach them to use items like bench hooks, vices and clamps so that all wood is secure before they begin to work, the risk assessment is probably the same as one for baking, its just about manageable risk. We always have a member of staff in the area of where the workbench is situated so children can always access it, things could be more difficult if we were in a situation where they had to keep being told to wait for staff to be free

[louby loo]

There's an article on woodworking in 14-27th may !Nursery World. Haven't read it yet (bit behind on reading!)

[Guest]

The nursery world article is brilliant and I made my head and deputy read it. I was then given the task of investing in tools etc over the half term as they loved the idea. I am going to start woodwork with my children in this last half term and I can't wait. I think they main issue is taking the time initially to train the children and then sourcing scrap wood to keep the cost down. I found a set of 4 stubby screwdrivers in pound land and also some small pliers...they were my main bargain.

 

The main reason I chose to add woodwork was actually for next years cohort. I have a challenging class coming up and I feel this is something that they will definitely benefit from so I am trialing it with my current cohort so I am not learning next term. I Think the team work etc that can be built into woodwork (especially for the boys) is fantastic and as you may be able to tell I am a little excited about it.

[thumperrabbit]

Can I ask what age group you are all working with?

 

would love to introduce this but I know it will be met with a lot of resistance from the staff due to safety issues.

[Guest]

I am reception - class of 24.

 

Def try get a copy of the nursery world article, this will help as it is all covered in that. My playgroup is also introducing woodwork and are going to have a woodwork shed outside.

 

x

[Froglet]

Thumperrabbit - I'm working with reception/Y1 at the moment. Safety issues would be the concern others have about me doing it. Last year a TA who usually works with upper KS2 was in to support me when my Y1s were sawing dowel to make axels for their space buggies. She went pale at the mere prospect and we were working 1:1 then.

 

Will try to find that nursery world article - thanks for the recommendation.

[Upsy Daisy]

Thick, strong cardboard boxes can be good for cutting and drilling too. The really sturdy ones that the supermarkets get fruit in.

[Guest]

Take the plunge and do it, you won't regret it. My baby 2 year olds love hammering and sticking bits of wood together and as long as they are supervised they learn so much it far outways the risk element which is surely no more than that experienced with having scissors etc readily available.

Edited June 8, 2012 by max321

[SueJ]

We get offcuts by the bag from the local timber merchants - used to be free but they now charge - not too expensive though. Also use lenghts of dowling (not too thick in circumference) as it is easy to saw and children can achieve a clean saw cut that doesn't take forever.

 

We use full size hammers and a proper tenon saw which the children use really well. Age group 2 to 5 years.

 

Handy hint - keep candle pieces and rub them on either side of the saw blade (adult job) as it helps the saw go through the wood better.

[Hello Kitty]

Love love love woodwork for children I used to tutor the training workshop for it and may have encouraged some rebel practitioners to introduce it to their pre-schools too... B)

I asked our parents if they had any wood they could donate and had 4 parents bring some in which was 4 more than I expected!

I had managed to get it out for one or two weeks at a time without my staff collapsing from stress but am aiming for it to be part of our continuous provision - it's been out since just after Easter now so I may just be winning muhahahhaa. I bought a mitre saw set today - it was just under £19 in B and Q and I think it might make it a little less stressful for my poor girls

We have two pairs of goggles and the rule is they have to wear them so if there are no goggles they can't participate. This has made it more manageable for staff. We have various screwdrivers, hacksaws, different size hammers, screws, nails, allen keys and the cap head screws for them and a hand drill. We use pumpkins and golf tees when they are in season and planted our own pumpkins from the seeds of last year's so we can have them for free in future

 

I would like a proper work bench now as at the moment we are using a picnic bench

[Guest]

I have started to sort my area out! I too asked parents and also the local wood supplies.

I contacted our feeder high school and they very kindly donated an old bench they no longer used with 2 vices attached. Also I picked up some tools in poundland-stubby screwdrivers, small pliers, screws!!

 

Yet to start but eager x

[Hello Kitty]

Oooh asking other schools is a good idea. I went to IKEA today and they do a lovely workbench and vice but bizarrely t comes with soft toy tools :huh:

It was £57 if anyone is interested - I thought it was a bit much as our site manager has offered to make one but I reckon I might have splurged if not as it's hard to find a child sized one that you can actually use...

[Stargrower]

I'm glad its not just me with Cosy catalogue. I absolutely love their stuff but find them rude and difficult. I've had some ethnic fabric on order since February which they now say is out of stock and not coming back in. I paid when I ordered but they can't understand that this means i have credit with them. I also found their ordering system a bit bizarre. I hope they can sort themselves out as I would love to use them more.

 

We haven't done any woodwork yet but are planning to get started in the summer holidays when we have some older children as well to act as role models (???!) then we'll be all ready to go in the new term.

Beehive