"Teamcasa" wrote in message
...

"W Canaday"
I've already bought plans for a sled and a cradle for my first grandchild
(due in late spring). I figure to make the cradle first. She can use it
while I'm working on the sled. ;-)

Proud Grandpa? You bet!

What other suggestions do you have for stuff to make for my only (so far)
grandchild?
...
I live in Detroit but she will be born in Minnesota ... so putting
together a sandbox / play gym is probably out of the question. Whatever I
make has to transport in the back of a passenger car, be utilitarian (my
son hasn't got a lot of room for extra junk at his house), require
middling woodworking skills (or less) and be baby/toddler centric.

If you can include links to the plans, so much the better.

My uncle made stuff for us when we were little, and then again when my own
children were born. These things are still in use, both here and at my
parents' house.

1. Small table and chairs. These will get used for decades. The kids need
places to eat snacks with their friends, and it's great when the whole
family gets together and the kids have their own special table. Our table
is just a small sheet of plywood with laminate applied to the top and edge,
corners rounded. The legs are just plywood quadrangles, attached between
some cleats nailed to the underside. Assemble it when you arrive.

The chairs my uncle made are also assembled on arrival, just plywood
sections nailed together. You'll probably want to do something finer, but
if your grandchildren are anything at all like every last child in my entire
extended family, these things are going to get seriously kicked around. Two
sides kind of like the letter 'h', making the legs and supports for the
back, a piece across the back, a seat across the flattened hump of the 'h's,
and another stabilizing piece perpendicular to the seat and the 'h's, under
the seat. I hope you can picture it (sorry, I don't have a digital camera,
but one might arrive for my son's birthday next week and maybe he'll let me
borrow it ).

The chairs my wife's grandfather made are kind of the same except the humps
of the 'h's extend a little higher than the seat, makimg little arm rests.
That's fine for a little kid, but they grow out of it, and no adult can use
that chair for anything.

2. Piggy banks. Slim little rectangular boxes that fit a roll of pennies,
nickels, dimes, or quarters.

3. Desk with bookshelves and bulletin board, kid-sized

Make more bookshelves, too. It won't be very long before the little kiddie
books need a home, too. It might be a pain to make a collapsable desk, but
probably not so hard to do the shelves.

4. Band saw made of wood

Okay, I'm kidding about the last one. My uncle made my bandsaw; he and Dad
used it to butcher deer. I use it to butcher wood. Deer live in the woods
and eat trees, so it's kind of the same, right?

The point is, make anything. It will have a HUGE impact on your grandchild.
Just make it good and strong because it's going to be hard for them to throw
it away when it breaks because you made it. I don't really care what you
think of my bandsaw, I've been using it since I was nine or ten years old;
it skewed my entire life!

A few other things I made for my own kids:

5. Train whistle

6. Hammer and poundy thing. I don't know what you call it, but it's got a
bunch of tight-fitting dowels in holes, and you hammer them all down, then
flip it over and hammer them back.

7. Boxes. Any kind you want, as long as they're strong and safe. (One day
I was suprised (then relieved when nothing bad happened), to see grandma
standing on a small box I made. Inside, it was full of expensive handheld
gaming stuff. The box held up just fine.)

A word of caution about toy boxes. Make them too deep and you can't see
toys underneath the toys. Make them too wide and the child can't reach all
the toys.

8. Baseball bat (wait 'till she's a bit older or somebody'll regret it)

Congratulations! My first grandson is 9 weeks old!
... Shamefully bragging! He is a picture of my new grandson.
http://www.teamcasa.org/workshop/ima...cksonsmile.jpg
Dave

And a fine looking grandson he is!

- Owen -