• Teach children how to work with tools.hammer and tools image by jimcox40 from Fotolia.com
  
  Wood tools for children are smaller versions of standard-sized woodworking hand tools. They have a lightweight design and easily fit in their hands to prevent injury. There are several tools that should be included in a child's woodworking toolbox. With these tools and projects designed to teach children how to use and work with the tools, you can awaken their creativity as they create things out of wood.
  
  

Safety Goggles

• Teach the children how to work with safety goggles before they handle their first tool. This will teach them the importance of safety while working with tools. The safety goggles will also prevent sawdust from entering their eyes, and protect their eyes from any mishandling of the tools.
  
  

Hammer

• When you think of a tool set, a hammer is one of the first tools that come to mind. Child-sized hammers are typically less than 12 inches long with 4-inch-wide heads and cost less than $10. Their lightweight design and narrow handle makes them easy to fit into small hands as they drive nails into wood.
  
  

Vise

• Attach a small vise to the worktable to hold wood pieces steady as the children saw, drill or connect wood pieces together. Select a small, child-sized vise that opens as wide as three inches. You will want to bolt the vise to a worktable to make it easier to hold the wood steady and for safety to prevent it from coming loose and accidentally falling to the floor.
  
  

Clamps

• There are many styles of clamps that come in small sizes that children can use. Use C-clamps or small spring clamps to hold two pieces of wood together. These clamps are easy to learn how to use, and their size is not too large for them to handle. Clamps will help hold the wood steady as glue dries or when they have to be nailed or screwed together.
  
  

Tape Measure

• Add a small retractable tape measure to the wood tool set. Children will need this to learn how to measure pieces of wood and cut them using measurements.
  
  

Working Gloves

• Sometimes working gloves are necessary when handling wood. Instruct the children to wear working gloves when handling pieces of wood that have not been sanded.
  
  

Sanding Block

• Teach children how to use a sanding block to sand rough pieces of wood. Purchase a child-size sanding block or make your own using a 4-inch piece of 2-by-3-inch wood. Wrap the wood in a large piece of sandpaper and staple its ends on the side of the wood block using a staple gun.
  
  

Manual Craft Drill

• Children can use a manual drill to bore screw holes in the wood. These operate at the hand-speed of the child. As they turn the handle, the drill spins into the wood.
  
  

Saw

• Handsaws designed for children have fine-toothed blades that make straight cuts in the wood. One of the first saw choices for children are child-sized coping saws because they are easy to use and will not easily slip out of the wood as they pull them back and forth. They are also easy to use for make both straight and curved cuts and typically cost $7 to $10.
  
  

Toolbox

• Use a child-sized toolbox to store all of the woodworking tools. They are available in different colors. Start with an empty toolbox and as the children learn how to use a new tool, store it in the toolbox. Teach the children how to store their tools in the toolbox after each use, how to take care of their tools and how to keep them organized.