DIY Skills For Kids

Being good at DIY and other household tasks is a very handy skill, that can make it a lot easier to stay on top of home maintenance. As more practical classes disappear from the curriculum, many children aren’t learning these skills at school anymore. If you’re good at DIY yourself, you can get even very young children involved so they start learning these important life skills. 

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Young children can start learning about DIY, so as they grow up they’ll be better able to help you around the house and care for their own home as an adult, from putting up shelves to knowing how to fit fisher and paykal dryer parts.

Safety First

Before you start teaching them to use tools, you need to make the kids safe. Are they grown-up enough to understand tool safety? Set DIY rules so your children always wear eye protection and closed-toe shoes, and that long hair has been tied back before they’re allowed to help you. Show them how to safely handle, use, and store any tools, and how to clean a workspace. 

Don’t Do The Work For Them

If you’re good at DIY, it can get annoying working slowly, or to watch you children make mistakes. Try to resist the urge to take over and do the job for them, as this won’t help them to learn. If the children feel like they’re helping you with your jobs around the house, then they’re more likely to feel interested and engaged in learning. 

Work At Their Height

You can’t work well on a surface that is too low or too high, and neither can the kids. Help them to work more comfortably by giving them a workspace that is the height for them. Make a kiddy workbench yourself, or cut down an existing workbench to a comfortable height for your children. 

Buy Them Tools

Toy tools are fun, but they don’t teach any real skills. To teach your kids real skills and responsibility, they will need real tools. There are lots of tools that you can buy especially for kids, that are designed to be comfortable for little hands and are changed to be safer for children. Give your kids their own toolset, and immediately start teaching them how to safely handle their tools and how to look after them. Your kids will feel very grown-up if they have their own tools to use when they help you, and it can be a great way to start teaching them these skills and keep them engaged. 

Introduce Tools One At A Time

Don’t overwhelm your children by giving them all the tools at once to learn. If they’re interested in helping you, start them off with one tool at a time and show them to use it safely before you add another. For example, start them off with a small hammer or mallet and get them to practice hammering on bubble wrap. This is fun, and a good way to learn.