DIY Mum or Dad Goals: 6 Fun Family Projects

If owning your own home didn’t make your DIY jobs list balloon, having kids certainly will! Even with babies, we’re having to child-proof our homes - often including removing hazards and putting gates up. When kids start walking and playing outside - well that’s a whole other (big) list. 

Here’s some projects that you can give a go around the home that will keep the kids entertained.

Build a Birdfeeder

Treehouse Time!

Dog Kennel

Wooden Trolley

Building Block Activity Table

Connect Four

Let’s dive right in!

Build a Birdfeeder

We love our native birds in New Zealand - part of the benefit of living here is you’re never far from the bush and our wildlife. To help encourage birdlife to visit your home, you can build a wooden bird feeder or birdhouse. These small structures are positioned at a safe height away from pets and predators around the outside of the home, on a dedicated post, or in a nearby tree. 

There’s a number of designs you can choose from for your bird feeder, but you’ll need to get wood for the platform the birds land on, sides to keep the food in, and a roof to protect the feed from rain. Then you may need a post if you are mounting the feeder from the ground, or some rope to hang it from a tree or outdoor framing. Finally you’ll need screws and or wood glue to put it all together. 

As you build your feeder, make sure that it’s not accessible by rodents or cats climbing. For the actual food, you should really make sure you’ve read up on the right choices for native birds. Nectar, fruit and insects will all fit in your feeder no problem, but you should consider the types of birds you want to feed when determining the size of your feeder. A miniature feeder won’t be accessible to larger birds.

Building your bird feeder will require sawing of wood and fixing together. For this, you may want to hire a saw and drill if you don’t have these. If this is one of your first DIY projects, we’ve got a handy section on building and renovation to help you get started.

With your bird feeder built, you can either leave it in a natural finish or use a non-toxic paint or stain to personalise it. 

Treehouse Time!

If you’ve got younger kids, a tree or play house is a worthwhile addition to any backyard. The good thing about these is you can go as simple or complicated as you want. A treehouse offers kids a place to hang out and a different way to enjoy being outdoors - something most parents would agree can be a struggle. If you go the treehouse route, you’ll need to make sure the tree is strong and stable enough to support the weight of the house, steps/ladder and children inside it. 

Make sure you measure out and draw the design up so you know exactly the materials to buy.  As you start building, you’ll likely have to build the floor with timber planks, ensuring these are fastened securely to the trunk and strong branches of the tree. Then you can go about building the walls and roof, making sure gaps are left for ‘windows’ so the kids can stay on the lookout!

A playhouse will be a better option for a backyard without an appropriate tree to accommodate a treehouse. The advantage of a playhouse is in the flexibility of design - you don't have a tree to work around. Just make sure to build the house on a slightly raised base - the last thing you want is flooding! 

For a treehouse or playhouse project, you'll need some equipment:

• Saw
  
  
• Hammer or nailgun 
  
  
• Sander
  
  
• Drill 

Materials you might need:

• Wood
  
  
• Rope
  
  
• Bolts
  
  
• Screws
  
  
• Nails
  
  
• Latches and door handles
  
  
• Alternative roofing materials like corrugated iron

Hirepool tip: Check your local recycling centre or Trade Me to make your treehouse from recycled materials.

Dog Kennel

A kennel is perfect for shade and rain cover for a dog that spends a lot of time outside. A kennel comes in handy during the cold wet months,  especially when you don’t want dirty paws walking through your lounge. Why should the kids be the only ones who get their own house to enjoy? Building a dog kennel will require timber for the structure and a choice of wood, plastic or metal for the roof. 

Consider the size of your animal - they won’t just lie down in their kennel, but sit, stand, and turn around inside it. Having a high enough roof is key. Equally, you don’t want to build a kennel that’s too large for a small dog as these can be cold.

As with a playhouse on the ground, you need to keep the floor of the kennel off the ground to avoid any flooding when it rains or moisture damage. To help reduce this risk further, pick a spot for the kennel that isn’t susceptible to flooding. Flooring should be splinter-free, with sheets of wood well sanded and finished. You might even consider getting a mat to fit which can be removed and cleaned periodically. 

When it comes to cleaning, particularly a small kennel, fixed roofs can make access tricky. Try a roof that has hinges or latches that can be removed for cleaning. Your roof should be angled to assist rain runoff, along with side cladding that weather-proofs the structure. 

With your kennel built, you can now finish it off with a paint job that suits your dog - just give it ample time to dry before releasing the hound - otherwise, you’ll have a serious clean-up job on your hands.

Wooden trolley

A homemade wooden trolley or ‘wagon’ might be old school, but kids still love them. A decent trolley can be used to cart toys around the place for years. For a basic trolley you simply need to build a wooden tray and sides, with 4 wheels. Your local hardware store should have wheels and metal axle parts - as well as the wood you need. Young kids love pulling and pushing their toys around in a trolley, so make sure you include a handle on the front. 

Make sure you don’t build something too big or heavy that will be difficult for little ones to manoeuvre. Include your helper in the project when choosing the paint colour and design.

There are lots of designs to choose from for your trolley, so do some research and choose one that looks doable and gets the kids’ seal of approval.  

Building block activity table

This one’s especially popular with preschoolers. Building blocks are a staple of many families’ toy collections thanks to their simplicity. Whether it’s plastic building blocks like Duplo, or wooden blocks, keeping all the pieces together can be a chore - one mum and dad end up doing more than they should! For a block activity table, you’ll want something that the kids can stand at initially, and then kneel when they’ve grown up a bit. The shape and size are totally up to you, but we’d suggest something that isn’t a mission to move around. Some activity tables have wheels on each foot making manoeuvring even easier - you could even add a brake to keep it in place when in use. 

Wooden activity tables will often have a raised edge to keep projects well contained and off the floor. For even more organisation, you might decide to build a draw or bucket that slides underneath the table to store blocks in. Part of your kids’ play can involve tidying up at the end, saving mum and dad that extra job. 

Don’t have blocks? This project can also include making wooden blocks, too. Simply get some extra 2x4 timber, cut to size, sand and finish. What’s better than 100% homemade toys!?

Connect four

This DIY super-sized Connect Four is super fun for kids, not only to build, but to play afterwards! It is a particularly great way to keep the kids entertained and something that they will get tons of use from during the warmer and colder months. To get started on this task, you’ll just need a few key pieces of equipment. Make sure you have a circular saw, clamps, drill, hole saw, hand saw, PVA wood glue, a pencil, sandpaper, tape measure and 14 x 25mm screws. In addition to this, make sure you have some plywood for the main construction and paint for decoration. 

You’ll be pleased to hear that the construction process is pretty straightforward. As a parent, your main tasks will be cutting out the rectangular piece of plywood, cutting out the connect four pieces and cutting out the circular slots for the connect four pieces to go into. You will also want to build a basic stand so it stays upright. Nothing would be worse than a tantrum being thrown over a fallen connect four board!

Let your kids have free reign with the painting side of things. Split the connect four pieces in half and let them choose two different colours to paint them. Traditionally, they would be yellow and red but your child might prefer pink and green - which is totally fine! They can also paint the plywood board and stand too - just make sure to do this outside to avoid paint spills indoors!

Okay mum and dad, time to get equipped!

Hirepool has all the tools you’ll need for that next family DIY project. There’s nothing worse than low-quality tools that make the project harder and the result sub-par. Our equipment for hire is top quality and regularly maintained. Get in touch with your local branch to talk about selecting the right gear to get started or order everything you need online now.