Beat the Boredom | Woodworking for Kids | Driftwood Heart

Spend quality time with your little ones creating this beautiful driftwood heart. Give as a gift, proudly display in your home or simply just enjoy watching your children, or grandchildren, develop a passion for making.

A simple project that requires minimal tools and materials, this decorative, heart is perfect for small hands, under supervision, and makes the perfect Valentine’s or Mother's Day gift.

Prep your project

While the hot melt glue gun is heating up, arrange pieces of wood into the rough shape of a heart. There need to be multiple points of contact to ensure a strong base.

Once happy with your basic shape, mark and glue each piece individually. Start by making a small pencil mark where the pieces make contact.

Begin gluing

Using a hot melt glue gun, and taking great care, put a small bead of glue on your pencil mark and hold the pieces you are glueing together until the glue cools.

Continue around the heart until all pieces are glued into shape. Be careful not to use too much glue at this stage.

Now we will add a second layer. Add more glue where it can be hidden by placing a stick on top and make sure to bridge all of the areas where two pieces meet to start to build a bit more strength.

Fill the voids

Continue around the heart strengthening each of the glue joins as you go. Keep going until you can move the heart without it flexing.

Remove any drips and the very thin glue trails left by the hot melt glue gun.

Carefully turn the whole project upside down and fill voids where the glue can not be seen. This is a chance to make the piece stronger.

Add a finish

Once the glue is cool and dry, turn over so that the top is facing up again and brush on a sanding sealer. This will harden any soft pieces of driftwood and make the whole project a bit more durable. Ensure children are supervised when using finishes and follow instructions carefully. If in doubt, ensure an adult completes the finishing.

Once the dryers have evaporated, your driftwood heart is ready to hang.

Discover more...

If you’ve enjoyed reading this article, keep an eye out for our next woodworking project for kids as part of our online Beat The Boredom series. Watch this space for more details! Furthermore, why not take a look at all of our previous projects below?

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