Fun, free kids workshop

When the mercury rises and the beach is out of reach, sometimes you just need an indoor activity to occupy the kiddos that isn’t expensive and doesn’t involve turning your living room into a jungle gym or your TV into a hypnotic device.

Last weekend, Tiny and I headed to our local Home Depot to participate in the store’s free kids workshop. On the first Saturday of each month, from 9 a.m. to noon, Home Depot offers children the opportunity to build cool stuff like toolboxes, fire trucks, mail organizers and birdhouses. All the necessary materials and tools are provided free of charge.

This past Saturday, Tiny got to build and decorate her very own mini moving truck. She was thrilled! She is forever asking me if she can make crafts. One of her favorite TV programs is “Craft Wars.” No joke. Check out the look of concentration on her face as she hammers that nail. She makes her DIY momma so proud.

Here is our little group in action. These workshops are designed for 5-12 year olds. It gives the little tikes a chance to learn valuable DIY and problem-solving skills as well as tool safety. That earns a “thumbs up” from me.

Here, Tiny is preparing to add the roof to her truck.

By this point, she was really getting the hang of the whole hammer/nail thing. Unfortunately, this was also the point when her momma realized she had lined up the axle piece wrong and subsequently had to tear the truck apart, flip the base and re-nail everything back together so the wheels would go on correctly. Lots of sweating and praying was involved in this process. 🙂

Here is Tiny beaming from ear to ear, showing off her finished moving truck.

I would definitely recommend these workshops. One thing to keep in mind, though, is that parents are responsible for helping their children build their crafts. We had very limited help from the Home Depot staff.

Each child gets to keep the project and also receives an achievement pin, certificate, balloon and the caauutest little kid-sized orange apron. (Unfortunately, they were out of stock by the time we got there.) Check your local store for details.