Child sized tools & equipment... what do you use?

[Freya]

Ok a spin off of my "Top 5 Kids" thread over in Prep...



What specific brands make good sized (weighted appropriately) tools/knives/etc... for kids to handle?


Yes one could just buy the smallest they can find, but I bet some of you have come across certain brands or styles that worked better (and safer) for your kids.

[Pelenaka]

Years ago I bought telescoping shovels that are the size of a large trowel from Wally World. Work well in my cramped raised bed garden.
Other than that my children just just used the smaller sized version of a tools either building or kitchen. Chores were for the most part easy and well supervised. I wouldn't let them weed or hoe without me by their side otherwise there wouldn't have been a tomato crop.
I can remember one late August when the three of them returned after a Summer away spent with their father. On the ride back from the airport I kept telling them that I had a gifts for them. To this day when I say I have something for them they reply that a paring knife isn't a gift.
Still all of us sitting out on the patio around a wash tub full of peaches slipping skins off and slicing, occasionally tossing a pit to the blue jay perched on the swing set is one of my fondest memories.

~~ pelenaka ~~

[RosewoodfarmVA]

Ha ha, our 18 month old has to have the same tools daddy is working with, no plastic or mini imitations for him! He uses my real hammer, a real paint brush, drags along a real shovel and rake, etc. He can hammer now, and has the stroking of painting down, but we aren't brave enough to put any paint on the brush yet! We have several nice mini tools with real metal and wood handles etc but he prefers the ones we use.

[Forerunner]

This is an area of child-rearing where you don't just decide you're going to jump in, one day.
Tools are serious stuff.....and the uninitiated can do an awful lot of harm with the most benign of them.
I started my eldest son on the bulldozer when he was 6.....because he was ready.
I bought my second son a good set of tools when he was 9..... because he was ready.
If you are a parent who works with their hands...and tools...on a regular basis, you're going to have much greater hope of success teaching your young.
Handing someone tools while they work, and watching the processes unfold from a few feet away, is priceless education for an aspiring young mechanic/plumber/millwright, etc.
Use great discretion and teach them to respect those tools before they ever have access to them.

Oh....and for the very young.... they do make the awesomest little two gallon plastic chore buckets with steel wire bail...

[rkgjl]

Since I'm short enough that adult sized shovels etc. are difficult for me to use I do use those made for children. Unfortunately they don't seem to last. Any recommendations for, um, REAL garden tools that are smaller? Not just cut down on the handle. We tried that and it didn't work so well for me.

[7thswan]

They do make garden tools for Women. Still as durable as regular size, but smaller. I've purchased these for my Mom, shes 5'.

[rkgjl]

Make I ask where you bought them? Did you need to go online?