Build a Ladder – Simple Woodworking Project

I have several children at my home daycare who have recently discovered the joy of hammering nails.  Their hammering skills have progressed in the past few weeks and it was time for a project.  My father provided us with a wonderful beginner project- ladders!  He had some scrap wood available and cut the pieces into two ready-made kits.  He even went so far as to label the pieces for the kids.

Two children worked together on each ladder.  The children planned out each step and encouraged each other as they pounded the nails in.

Each ladder kit included two side pieces and four rungs.

The children had to match up the rungs onto the X’s. Each rung had a dot to help the children know where to hammer each nail.

At first the children started hammering with the ladder on the stump but they soon moved to the floor.

They wanted to spread out their materials and take turns hammering each rung. Hammering on the mat helped prevent holes in my floors :).

One group decided to paint their ladder when they finished nailing on the rungs.

The ladder will help our backyard chipmunk reach his barn house.  The children fill the barn with seeds every few days and we have one very spoiled chipmunk!

The other group added a wooden decorative letter G and attached the ladder to our fairy house in the front garden.

I hope our ladders inspired you to create your own simple woodworking projects for your budding builders.