I'm working on my Bronco at my brother's farm. My brother hauls scrap for a living, so my nephew gets quite a lot of exposure to ripping cars apart, and very little to actually fixing them. In fact, he was completely baffled that I took the brakes apart and put them back together, reminding me frequently that his daddy junked their '91 Ranger when it blew a tire. Robert just turned 5 in May.

The bearings went out on his 2-wheel scooter thing, and I grabbed the wrenches and started taking the wheel off -- the look on that poor boy's face when he saw me taking tools to his precious scooter was just priceless. I think it finally clicked when he was telling me another toy was broken and needed fixed -- I told him it was broke, so it was junk. "No, no, no -- if you can fix it, it's not junk!"

Anyway, he's been "helping" me with the Bronco, mostly getting out all the combination wrenches and asking me why there's so many different sizes. I've been explaining how they fit different size nuts -- I handed him a new battery terminal and had him find me the wrenches to put it on. He found 'em, several times. His dad, on the other hand.. anything might be a hammer, wrench, or screwdriver.

And I've been teaching him the hows and whys of putting them away when they're done being used. Now, I'm far from perfect at that -- I tend to have everything scattered every which way while I'm working, and invariably end up crawling all over to find the right one that I just had 5 minutes ago. Howsomeever, I do make sure they're all found and put back in my toolbag in the Bronco when I'm done for the day -- in contrast, his dad tends to store things wherever they fall, and any hunt for a specific tools involves at least one fresh divot in the yard.

I've got some cheap wrenches that I want to give Robert, but I need some ideas for something for him to "work" on. Everything my brother and I work on tends to be too rusted and difficult for a kid, and I don't really want to get him any of those overpriced cheap plastic things. Then again, I don't want to spend a whole lot of money on pieces-parts that're probably going to get lost.

Has anyone made anything like that? Lots of nuts and bolts of various sizes, comes apart, goes back together, and most importantly, isn't supposed to be anything. Later, we'll look at Erector sets and such, when he's got the "put everything away" part of the project down.

 

I'd say drill and tap a bunch of holes in a couple pieces of steel or aluminum, bolt them together, and call it good.
I'm going to be dealing with something like this in a few years- figure by then the kid's gonna be wanting to follow me into the garage.

 

My son is almost eight so I've had a lot of the same thoughts. Actually what you're doing now is probably best. They don't want to sit by themselves turning wrenches on something. They want to help YOU. My son has wanted to help for years and it's hard to tell him that there are things that he can't do yet. Be creative while you're working on things and let him hold a part while you turn the wrench or let him turn it a little if he can, then come back behind him and tighten it. Obviously if it's rusted, he's not going to to break it down, but maybe he can take the last few turns of the wrench after you've got the bolt backed almost all the way out. It's awesome that he's interested. Keep him that way. He will always remember "fixing" things with his uncle. Take care

 

I think its great that you are taking the time to teach him. Today so many people just dont have time, or think they dont have time, to guide a child through doing something. When I bought my first junker 71 pontiac grand prix, my dad told me it was up to me to do all the wrenching but He guided me and helped me when I needed it. I probably would have given up right away due to not knowing what to do. I never finished the car. It became a donor car for a 69 lemans. I kept the drive train and other misc. parts from the GP. My dad guided me through building the engine, but he made me do all the work. Valuable lessons were learned in the endeavor. My Dad is gone now and I sure miss be able to call him when I am stumped on something. Keep up the good work, every child needs a mentor at times.

 

My buddy that i have know since high school (Which is like a brother) has 3 boys ages 7, 5, & 4 all of them think of me as "uncle" AS i have been in thier lives the whole time from the start .



I was raised in the Excavating & trucking business as my family has done Dozer work for 45 + years . needless to say this how i make my living now in construction .


The 7 yr old has been interested in helping his dad & myself on working on my equoment & trucks & his dads trucks & tractors etc since he was round 2yrs old


@ THE AGE OF 4 MY "nephew" could tell ya what drawer each drive sockets was in what drawer & same went the rest of the tools in my Snap-on Road chest .



We often put him on the back of service truck where we know he's out the way w/somthing to drink & somthing to munch on while he watchs us & now can tell him about what wrench or socket we want .



We also alot times let him finish losening a nut or bolt off the last few turns as long as isnt rusted or stuck & we in somway or another helping him .

I think its cool how he is so interested in what his dad & myself are working on allthe time



I bought a new gas powered air compressor yesterday my buddy & myself was unloading it & got on the ground he said "whoa new compressor when we get to use it?"


my buddy said reach in the truck on the seat & get the bag of compressor & motor oil & we are gonna try it out after we get it ready to go "


he said "ok" then "what else do you need ?"


I had a funnel on the tailgate of the truck truck i told him "grab the funnel so we can put oil in the motor & compressor " he was handind the quart of compressor oil & motor oil to us



my buddy & myself oiled & gassed the compressor



by the time we got it ready & crancked & running i dont know who was more excited & proud him or myself & his dad .

as where he wanting to us to workon somthing then


He reminds me how my granddad & my dad used to do the same w/ me round that age . & it brings a smile to my face To remember & how i learned from granddad & dad

funny how a 7 yr old can do that to ya to make the memories come flooding back



later yall sorry for the long post &the rambling


Bulldog

 

While my son is only two years old, he's facinated with hammers, screwdrivers, wrenches, socket sets, nuts and bolts and machinery in general. When I'm working on a project I always try to include him, at least to a point, and most of his "help" so far has been finding the right socket or wrench out of the toolbox and place it on the nut, stud or bolt. He does this by trial and error, and sometimes gets the right socket in as little as the third try. He knows the socket should be somewhat snug and not wiggle too much. In this picture he's tightening one of the lugnuts on the electric car I made him. I started the nut by hand, and said he could tighten it himself. He got the ratchet out of the box, and tried several sockets until he found the one that fits snug, and pushed it part way onto the ratchet. I had to lock it in place for him, then hand it back. He then tightened the lug nut most of the way. Then his attention span changed to something else



Since he was one, he's had a sesame street toolbench, which has gears, plastic bolts, nuts and nails, and the plastic tools to drive them in and out of the workbench. He was so fascinated by this toy I started including him in some of my projects as I mentioned before. Once he started to play with my tools the plastic cookie monster screwgun didn't seem so interesting. So I gave him my old socket set, and bought a pile of 5/8" diameter lag screws which I turned the shanks down to smaller diameters, and threaded, then bought one of each size nut, from 1/8" to 9/16", wing nuts in the same sizes, and fender washers also in the same sizes, in 1/16" increments.

The lag screws, once machined and threaded on the shanks, were then driven into a 2x6 that I routed a large "pocket" towards one end to store the nuts and washers, then painted the whole thing with leftover rattle can paint.

He loved this thing so much that I used some of the open space on the 2x6 and hammered in "hat nuts" also in 1/16" increments from 1/8" to 9/16", then bought him sets of bolts also from the hardware store, to drive into those hat nuts. Got him regular bolts, allen head bolts, and phillips head bolts. The latter were the most difficult to find in larger sizes, but I did.

Anyway, this may sound like a stupid "toy" but he enjoys playing with it a lot. It's good for rainy days and after some encouragement when he's done playing with it he'll put all the nuts/bolts/washers into the routed pocket so they aren't all over the living room floor.

I also let him use my machinery. A friend of mine asked me to deck a pair of aluminum cylinder heads for him, so once I leveled and clamped them down, I handed my son a pair of safety goggles which he put on by himself, then I helped him with a paper mask, and tied on his kid-sized apron. I fired up the milling machine with the fly cutter chucked, and my son stood on the side of the machine turning the "X" crank moving the cylinder head through the cutter. Once the first pass was done, he stopped and pointed at the machine and hollared Y! Y! Y! so I cranked the "Y" crank a bit to move an unmilled section in line with the fly cutter, and told my son to crank it the other way. After a little playing with the "X" crank, he started to crank it the reverse of before, and the X-Y table and the cylinder head moved towards him. He was giggling the entire time, delighted to be playing with the machine.

The heads were aluminum and there's enough cutting fluid that nothing really flies off, mostly because I have the cutter running at a slow speed. He cranks so slow that this still gives a nice finish yet the safety of nothing flying off is established as well.

A few months ago the bearings in our pool pump/filter motor siezed, so I replaced them. My son sorta helped with disassembly, except that everything was so rusted/frozen he didn't have the grip or strength to do much other than find the right tool for each screw/nut/bolt. Once I got the thing apart, the front bearing had to be beaten off, so I put the bearing in the vice, put my son on my workbench, and gave him an old ballpeen hammer. He put on his goggles as always, and I tied on his baby sized apron, and pointed at the motor shaft and said "hit that". He did. Very adorable little baby taps, but he got into it so he kept going until it started to work loose. Took him a long while because he's two and not really violent with the hammer yet, but I didn't mind this taking as long as it did. It's the start of father/son hobbies and projects.

What's really cool is he knows not to touch ANY tools until his goggles are on, which as I said he puts on himself.

There are certain tools we do not use together - saws, either lathe, the router table, and various other tools like that. Either because the guards aren't what I'd call safe or in the case of the lathe the coolant flow is so great operating it gives you a nice oily soaking head to toe. The milling machine is fine because the coolant flow is just enough for the cutter and very localized, and him standing all the way "over there" at the end of the "X" table is more than far enough away he doesn't get hit with coolant, oil or chips no matter what.

Of course decking off a thou on the one aluminum cylinder head took over an hour lol.

But it's really cool when your 2 y/o comes to you with his safety goggles already on and says "baby mill with daddy?"

 

Ha! I've corrupted my little brother as well He's 6 now and helps me out when he can while I work on my trucks. Usually I just bust the bolts and let him run them out and run them back in. I also let him take stabs at the truck pieces I have out for my project. So far he has helped me take down my 460, the front axle, the transfercase, various pieces of my other trucks, and just about anything I don't need in one piece anymore. He's also interested in welding. . .I let him watch me with my spare helmet and jacket.

He also takes stuff apart when he gets bored with it. Including just about every electronic gizmo he has, both his Power Wheels, a computer, clocks, and a VCR. He collects the parts and screws and throws the rest away.

I've given just about as complete a set of tools any DIY would need in my old tool box, and my mother hates me for it

I guess the next lesson is figuring out how to put back together. . .he's got his bike down, but thats it

 

Always bear in mind that kids don't lack intelligence, just experience. And they learn quicker than us old duffers do, too! My little guy (now 20) has been helping me since he could walk. I used to go to the hardware store and get a couple nuts and bolts to play with while I shopped. When he was about 3, he spotted a moving driveshaft on a big truck. I explained it to him, and he had to look under every vehicle to see the driveshaft. Took some 'splainin' on the front wheel drive cars, though! When he was in high school, one of the kids had a flat, and they all just stood around and looked at it until he took charge and changed it. Kids today don't get enough hands-on, IMO.

 

My father had his own home improvement business when I was younger. Since I was old enough to walk I remember helping him. By the time I got into high school he had changed careers but when I bought my first house at 21 yo I was able to gut it down to bare studs and remodel it. I made a decent profit off my first house and will also profit off the work I have done to my second house. Not only am I still very close to my father because of the time we spent together, but it also helped me out financialy.