Kids Workshop at The Home Depot - Butterfly House

I went with Daniel last week to the Kids Workshop at the Home Depot to make a Butterfly House. Daryl was not available so I only have Daniel with me.

Daniel looking at the instructions

Two of the pieces have been nailed together

3 pieces nailed. The butterfly house is taking shape

The last of the 4 walls.

Nailing it down.

The bottom is being nailed. Daniel is almost complete.

It's just the top that's missing

Only a screw holds the top cover.

The final product with the certificate

Instructions and pin.

Daniel painted the Butterfly house

Yellow on the inside, red and blue on the sides.

Daniel had fun that day and now he wants to go back to be able to collect the pins.

2010 Pinewood Derby - Daryl's Car

Here's Daryl's car for the Pinewood Derby. Since he's not a cub scout yet, I just bought a Pinewood Derby kit where the block is already pre-cut.

Daryl drew a face and put the windows on the block.

He asked me to put the number 95 since he wants it to look like Lightning Mcqueen.

He wrote his name at the bottom of the block

Sanded and painted it red.

I'm adding the weights at the bottom.

The block needed a few more weights because it's too light.

Covered the weights with wood putty.

Sanded and painted the bottom

Attached 'red' wheels on it.

Added some stickers with the number 95 on top.

Initial weight is 4.9 ounces.

Close up on the stickers

Front of the pinewood Derby car. STP stickers as headlights.

Again, similar to Lightning Mcqueen with stickers as headlights.

Added a couple of weights at the back since the car 

is below the weight limit during the Official Weigh-in

141 grams on my weighing scale.

Daniel and Daryl's car after the race.

2010 Pinewood Derby - Daniel's car

Daniel had his 2nd Pinewood Derby race about 3 weeks ago. His car did better this year compared to last year as far as the speed is concerned. I believe we shaved off about 1 second on the time. Here's Daniel's Pinewood car this year.

We traced the design on the side of the pinewood block.

The other side of the block

Started cutting the design using a coping saw. 

I told Daniel to change the design a bit.

Cutting is still going on

Done with the cutting. Working on the filing/sanding next.

Didn't have much pictures for the filing/sanding. 

We used a flat file and a medium and a fine grit of sandpaper.

Here's the sanded wood block.

The edges are smooth. 

We decided to use quarters this year as weights. We're putting 3 quarters on top.

I don't have any router so I just cut the circle pattern using a craft knife.

Here's the 1st one of the 3 holes.

We used super glue to attach the 2 quarters.

Applied wood putty to cover the holes. 

I told Daniel that I'll just put a few more quarters at the bottom.

Here's a couple more places to put quarters.

Super glued the quarters again.

Daniel wanted his car to be yellow (similar to last year).

Weighed the car and we have to add more weights. 

Here's one more quarter.

Added 2 quarters in total.

Covered them with wood putty and sanded it after it dried.

Painted the bottom and attached the wheels

Daniel attached some stickers.

Initial weight of 4.87 ounces

Additional stickers

Full view of the car.

Added a few weights on top. 

It seems that my weighing scale is not accurate.

Weight is 142 grams. We'll target this weight next time.

The limit is 141.7 grams.

I'll be posting Daryl's car next. He wanted to join the pinewood derby race this year with a red car.

Painted Rain Gauge

Since it's been raining quite a lot the past few days here in the NorthEast. The kids wanted to use the rain gauge. We were told at the Kids Workshop that we have to paint it first before using it. I helped the kids paint the rain gauge.

They wanted the roof to be red

It was decided that the body is yellow

The bottom part is blue

We're going to test this rain gauge once the paint are dry. It appears that it's going to be a rainy spring this year. It has rained 4 days in a row but it's going to be a good Easter weekend though as it will be sunny. Happy Easter everyone!

Kids Workshop at The Home Depot - Rain Gauge

After doing two Lowes Build and Grow workshops, we decided to try the Kids Workshop at the Home Depot last week. I brought Daryl with me since Daniel has something going on during that day. I helped Daryl create a Rain Gauge and he was able to practice his hammering skills and learned how to use the screwdriver.

Rain Gauge parts

Daryl is using the hammer to assemble the roof.

The completed Rain Gauge, Certificate of Achievement, Pin and stickers.

Rain Gauge and Instructions

The Kids Workshop at The Home Depot is held at a local Home Depot store every 1st Saturday of the month. The hands-on session is for kids ages 5 to 12 and it's FREE. Just like the Lowes Build and Grow, we'll try to go to the store if there's an available workshop. I want my kids to start learning how to use basic tools and also develop their skills on assembling things.

If you want more information regarding the Kids Workshop at The Home Depot, visit their site at http://www.homedepot.com/.

Lowe's Build and Grow - Lowebot

A couple of weeks ago, I brought the kids at a nearby Lowe's store for a Build and Grow clinic. The clinic is Free and it teaches the kids on how to use simple tools and the safety precautions while using them. They also learn how to assemble wooden kits.

It was the kids first time attending a clinic like this and they had fun building the Lowebot.

Pieces of the Lowebot on the table

The assembled Lowebot kit shown as cars

Lowebot, transform. Oops, only 1 did.

Now the other one did transform

A Lowebot patch and booklet

At the end of the clinic, the kids got a certificate of merit and a patch. They brought their Lowebots home and played with it. It was a very interesting day and we'll surely be back today at 10am for another Build and Grow clinic. The kids will be building a Tabletop Basketball game and will be posting the details soon.

If you want  to know more information about the Lowe's Build and Grow projects, please visit their website at https://www.lowesbuildandgrow.com/.