Helping my Daughter Make the Bed.

Ever since I started woodworking (a whole year now!), my 9-year-old daughter, Emry, has been asking me to teach her how to work wood.  I started by telling her that as soon as I figured out what I was doing, I would teach her (I have since realized that one never really does figure out what they are doing), but most recently I said that if she came up with a project, I would help her with it.  

A few weeks ago, she came up with a project:  She wanted to build a bed for her doll.  I was in the middle of the purple box project, but we made time, and started the bed.  We went to Woodcraft in Virginia Beach and poked through the scrap bin, I found some decent sized boards for a few dollars, and since she planned on painting it, it didn't really matter what the wood looked like.  

Emry and I then got out a piece of paper, and drew up a basic plan of what the bed would look like.  My rule was that she had to do the lions share of the work, so I ripped the board into bed parts, and Emry would cut all the joinery.  

After laying out the pieces and getting our heads around it, I had Emry use the marking gauge to layout all the joinery.  The head board and foot board were joined using half laps, so she started cutting those:  

I let her use my Japanese dovetail saw, as well as the western dovetail saw.  She preferred the Japanese saw because the handle was easier for her to hold, and she got really good at following the layout lines, and cutting some tight joints.  After the cutting, she removed the waste with a chisel:  

Then we glued up the head board and foot board, clamped them and called it a night.  

After the headboard and footboard were dry, she cut the mortice and tenon joints for the side rails.  She had a little harder time with the layout, but after we colored in the waste, her cuts were spot on.  

Now, for the mortices:  These were fun cause she got to hit things with a mallet.  She actually has really good forum, and did a great job on them.  Cutting the mortices did highlight my need for a legitimate workbench, and a better vise.  All in good time....

After the mortices were cut, and everything was dry-fitted, we glued it up and let it sit overnight again.  

The next day, we filled in the little gaps with wood filler, then sanded the whole thing down and got it ready for paint.  

For the paint, we went to Lowes and checked out the 'oops rack' where the erroneously mixed paint is sold for cheap.  We found a gallon of Valspar primer paint combo in bubble gum pink for $5.  Its hard to beat that.  Grab a few foam brushes and we were off the the races.  

In the end, Emry and I had a great time working on a project together, she learned a lot, and so did I.  I have always learned the most by teaching others, and this was a great opportunity for me.  The other benefit is that Emry has a really good quality doll bed that cost less than $10 to make.  How cool is that?!