Part of our online Beat The Boredom series, this week we’ve got a brilliant yet simple woodworking project to get your younger kids inspired. Ideal for young children with adult supervision, our latest woodworking project for kids is a wooden hand clapper toy. If your children want to get hands on and learn more about woodworking, this is a simple yet fun way to them involved. As the nation unites in a massive show support for the NHS and key-workers each Thursday evening, why not give this noisy woodworking project a go ready for next week’s clap? If not they’ll be just as fun for use at home!
Make some noise with these cool hand clappers, designed for young kids. This is a great little project which is very simple to achieve and uses few materials and tools. Furthermore, if you have older children at home, why not try our Wooden Ratchet Toy?
This hand clapper toy project can be made with any 8mm - 10mm thick material, plywood, softwood or hardwood. In this instance, we used 10mm Poplar. We used three pieces measuring approx 130mm wide, 300mm long and 10mm thick. Please note: measurements can vary depending on the hand size and what materials you have available.
The idea behind this project is for the child to draw around their own hand on a piece of paper to make it unique to them.
Using a low tack paper glue like Copydex or UHU/ Pritt stick, stick the paper to the material. Alternatively, the child could draw directly on to the timber.
In our case, the Skill Centre tutor's hands were too big to do this, so it was done freehand.
Next, add in a handle to hold the hand clapper at a length to suit you. In this instance, a 130mm long hand with a nice rounded end looked about right to us but it is 100% personal preference.
If you wish, each piece could be marked out and cut individually. However, as the material we used was relatively thin and quite soft we stacked the three pieces of timber using low tack double sided tape to hold them altogether in position whilst cutting. Although doing it this way is slower, it will still save a lot of cutting time in the long run and all three pieces will be cut identically.
Before you cut any timber, mark out and drill two x 5mm holes at the base of the hand near to where the wrist would be. Again, if you have tacked all three pieces of timber together, you can now drill all three in one go making things quicker and the drilling process more precise.
Next, using a scroll saw with a blade designed to cut the thicker material, carefully follow the outline of the hand. Be sure to take your time to ensure that you don't break the blade.
Once cut, peel off the paper template and separate the three different components.
If you are making multiple hand clappers, you may want to cut six more hands without handles. This would make up three total sets of clappers in one go. However, if only one set is required, mark out at the wrist, just beneath the 5mm drill holes and then cut the handle off of two components only.
After a good sand up using 120g - 180g aluminium oxide resin bonded paper, assemble the hand clapper toy and apply any colour, decoration or finish you wish. If you decide to add a finish, we recommend a toy safe finish. Leave to dry
Before you complete your project, you may wish to drill a recess into the palm of each hand with a 35/40mm forstner bit to make an even louder clap noise!
Finally, thread string or a cable tie through the holes. At this stage, ensure the handle is in the middle and make sure you don't do it up too tight as you want the outer hand to move to make the clapping sound.
Your wooden hand clapper toy is now complete. Go make some noise and have fun at the same time!
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If you’ve enjoyed reading this article, keep an eye out for our next woodworking project for kids as part of our Beat The Boredom series. Watch this space for more details!
Furthermore, why not take a look at some of our previous Beat The Boredom projects below?
If you’re searching for Beat the Boredom projects, you’ll find them on the Knowledge website. Alternatively, follow us on Instagram and Facebook to stay up to date on all the latest from our Beat the Boredom series. Connect with us using #BeatTheBoredom to @AxminsterTools.
