Making Stilts

A great way to introduce older children to working with tools is to make them toys that they will have fun playing with. Take a pair of stilts, for example. This toy is as popular today as it was 50 years ago. If you don`t believe me, make a pair and watch children leave all their latest `must have` toys to have a go on the stilts. Of course, you need to use your own discretion to decide if your children are old enough to be playing around (safely) on stilts. 

Your required materials are:

	2 x lengths of pine clears about 1.5m x 50mm x 25mm for the stilt legs
	2 x pieces of pine clears 150mm x 75mm x 50mm for the foot pieces.
	6 x 75mm number 10 screws
	Woodworking glue.

First, let`s work on making a hand grip at the top of the stilts. Measure 150mm from the top of the stilt lengths, draw a pencil line all the way around the wood. On the 50mm face, mark a line in the centre from the top of the wood down to where you have marked your 150mm line. Then on either side of this centre line mark 12.5mm and once again draw down to the 150mm line. You will then need to make a shape similar to a cricket bat handle as shown in sketch 1. (The sketch shows top of the stilt leg shaped to make a hand grip.)

Cut the handle out. This will be approximately 25mm square. Sand it smooth. Do this on both stilt legs.

You will now need to fix the foot rests to the stilt legs. This a simple operation involving gluing and screwing the rests on to the legs of the stilts about 600mm up from the bottom. Adjust the height to suit your child. (Please see sketch 2.)

Drill three evenly spaced holes through the leg into the footrest to take the screws. Before screwing, coat the footrest face with PVA glue.

Once you`ve done this, sand the stilts all over and round off any sharp corners. Now you can have fun painting them. Let your children get involved in choosing the colours of paint and the patterns they want to decorate the stilts in.

Adjustable footrests can be made by using coach bolts with wing nuts instead of screws and of course you wouldn`t use any glue to hold the footrests in place.

Safety! You need to use your discretion when it comes to this. Children should wear a helmet and only walk on the stilts where the ground is even.