Woodworking Talk banner

Childrens wood blocks?

2K views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  Gerry KIERNAN 
#1 ·
My wife wants me to make some wood blocks for our daughter. Has anyone made these types of blocks? What type of wood did you use? What were the sizes you made the blocks? Thanks
 
#2 ·
Are you talking about cubes, or blocks of differing shapes/sizes?
Either way, the ones I've seen in the various pre-schools I used to visit were made from 8/4 hard maple.
Triangles, rectangles, arcs, cubes, half circles, and many different deminsions ....except for the cubes, of course.:icon_smile:
All were 8/4, so your dimensions would work off that primary size. i.e two rectangles stacked face to face, matched in thickness, the width of the face of one. Similarly, lengths were also multiples of the thicknesses.
I checked in to making them. Believe me, it's far cheaper to order them from a school supply! Not so much fun, though.
Gene
 
#3 ·
Suggestion

Using a 1" base dimension, make a 1" 2" 3" 5" modular system so that blocks added together can build all the dimensions. Cubes of the same dimension will also work, although a 5" cube will be hard to make without a bandsaw and a hefty chunk of wood. "building blocks" will teach the addition skills. :thumbsup: bill
 
#4 ·
Many years ago[more than I care to think about] I made my son a set of wood blocks. In my case I used cedar 2X2 [1-1/2 by 1-1/2] I ran them through the table saw to make them 1-1/2 inches long. Then sanded them all down to take off any splintering or rough edges. As I went along I added longer pieces of 2X2 to use as beams, and pieces of plywood to make panels. The set of blocks got more use than any of his other toys, as he liked to build.

Gerry
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top