We all know that the things that you learn from a young age stay with you for the rest of your life. Not only does teaching your kids about DIY give them some invaluable practical skills, it will also help them to save money in the future as they won’t have to hire expensive contractors every time there is a problem around the home.
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You may just be doing a couple of simple jobs around the house or you may be involved in a major project that requires a steel building from Armstrong Steel. Either way, it is a good idea to teach your kids the basics while ensuring that any tasks that they do take part in are completely safe. Here are a few ideas about what they can do.
Measure Twice, Cut Once
You will probably be well aware of the old adage measure twice, cut once, but accuracy is one of the most important lessons that you can teach your kids so that they don’t have to go back and do a job all over again, which is not financially sound. Teach your kids how to read a measuring tape and make sure that they know to always double check their results. Once they become more experienced, allow them to do the measuring all by themselves.
Drive Screws
Before letting your kids loose with power tools, you will want to make sure that they are mature enough to handle them and the whole process is completely safe. A good starting point is a powered screwdriver which doesn’t spin at the same rate as a drill and the bits aren’t as sharp so it is less dangerous. Make sure that you supervise them well and you can teach them the valuable skills of patience and coordination.
A Lick of Paint
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Painting is a great DIY task to teach your kids as it is one of the safest that you can allow them to get on with. To start off with, you can get them enthusiastic about it by heading down to your local paint store and allowing them to pick out the colours themselves. Afterwards, you can teach them all the basics involved in the process including preparing the paint, using different methods (brush, roller etc) and the cleaning up afterwards.
Organising the Toolbox
Though it may not seem as exciting as some of the other jobs that you can tackle, organising the toolbox with your kids gives you the opportunity to show them each individual tool and explain in detail about what they all do. In the future, this will make it much easier when you decide that it is time to teach them how to use them.
Remove Nails
You may think that hammering in nails is a little too dangerous right now, but you could teach your kids to remove nails instead using the other side of the claw hammer. Make sure that they aren’t buried in too deep as this is when things can become a little tricky.
