I help run a Scout troop, and it’s planning night tonight for this term. After some of them used a saw on the camp in summer and thought it was the best thing ever, I’m keen on doing something on teaching them some basic DIY stuff, like types of screws/screwdrivers, using a hammer, spanners, wiring a plug, changing a lightbulb, that kinda thing. Really bobby-basic stuff, but they know nothing. What else would you put it in?

Using a lawnmower.

Their parents will be grateful and their pocket money opportunities will greatly increase.

See also: washing a car properly.

As an aside, my 14 year old was constructing his own makeshift staging and scraping wallpaper with a steamer for most of yesterday.

#lifeskills #proudparent #childexploitation

Teach them finger tight, torque and stripped thread – the voice of bitter experience

Edit when I was young, so this may be old mans tales, I was taught to check “hot” things with the back of my hand and to pick up leccy cables/etc ditto as the palm of your hand is used a lot more than the back and it won’t go into a spasm grip

Absolutely agree with @towzer !! This is one of the first things I taught my eldest. I have a mate who insists on putting a ‘farmers nip’ on everything – flippin nightmare!

Teach them how to shop for proper food.

And then how to cook it.

Teach them how to shop for proper food.
And then how to cook it.

We will, but in a different session.

Stopcock and inline water shut off valves in case of a water leak / burst pipe.

Fuse board trip switches, location of zones / function / types of etc.

Correct positioning of & test a smoke alarm.

Teach them about attempting to repair/recycle things, rather than bin it or ask for a new one.

Ladder safety.

The amount of DIY people I see using ladders dangerously is frightening.

First Aid Course! 🙂

Wire a plug, use a spirit level, use a tape measure properly (i.e. measure properly), use a set square, change a tap washer, proper use of screws (pilot holes, not aligning along the grain, pozi vs philips, self tappers, how to countersink etc etc), claw hammer to remove nails, use of wood/plasterboard filler, how to sand/file, how to bleed a rad (might be risky!),

Why not combine a lot of the above by getting them to build something useful like a wood store from pallets?

The amount of DIY people I see using ladders dangerously is frightening.

I love how ladders have their safety instructions sticker at the top – including an illustration of the position you’d need to be in to read them with a big red line through it.

But yes its interesting how frequently ladders are part of the back story in ’24 hours in A&E’

like types of screws/screwdrivers,

I think a spotters guide to screws is pretty valuable – I’m sure 90% of the reason people think they’re bad at DIY and give up before they’ve given it a proper try is because

A – the difference between Phillips and Pozidrive is much more fundimental than you’d think and….

B – the screws in the packet with whatever thing you’ve bought are always shit

It would be an interesting practical exercise as well – getting a feel for when the screwdriver and screw are working well together.

The fun thing might be to figure out something that can be made collectively that gives people a go at everything – a bit of cutting, a bit of screwing and nailing, some nuts and bolts, maybe even a bit of paint and wallpaper. Give it a light and lightswitch too and a quick lesson about extension leads.

A hut / den would be obvious I suppose, but also a way to do a door, window, curtains, paint and paper is to make a set for a drama group.

But with autumn approaching something you can set fire to on bonfire night might be a laugh too – pull apart pallets, cut and nail them together into something zany.

+1 for ladder safety and accurate measuring.

maybe even a bit of paint and wallpaper.

Wallpapering is a dying art.

We employ hundreds of painters.  A significant proportion of them can’t hang paper.

Have them throw sausages at various power tools.

It might make them think twice about where they stick their fingers in later life.

If you have an area outside then bricklaying with damp sand (i.e. mortar but without the cement) is a fun activity.

accurate measuring.

Have them measure and draw a scale plan of the church hall / scout hut.

Have them throw sausages at various power tools.

I got a live demonstration of Festool’s prototype sausage-safe table saw earlier in the summer. Given by a person who had personal experience of a non sausage-safe one. Pretty blummin miraculous.

Cheers all. Spirit level and tape measures is a good one, light and lightswitch too, like the sound of that. We’ll do ladder safety, although that may well be a case of do as I say, not as I do 😉

I got a live demonstration of Festool’s sausage-safe table saw earlier in the summer

A perverts dream. 😉

Get them to hammer frozen sausages into Perchys lawn.

Please, please, please give your DIY tutorials dressed as Frank Spencer.

Please, please, please give your DIY tutorials dressed as Frank Spencer.

It’s hard  to climb a ladder whilst wearing rollerskates.

Get them to hammer frozen sausages into Perchys lawn.

….and then cut the grass.

Hammering nails in straight.

Using electric screwdriver/driver properly – no jumping the bit out of the head, the clutch etc.

Sawing square and straight.

Un-blocking a sink.

Painting – cutting edges!

Replace a door lock.

Change a tap cartridge.

Also do cars.

Fill washer bottle
Check oil
Check coolant
Check tyres
Change a bulb

Properly wash a car.

Put up shelf and how to cook sausages on the passenger seat

Gotta say, I cannot for the life of me see the benefit of learning how to wire a plug in 2019, other than as an academic exercise. They’ve been sealed units for decades now.

buy a cheap book case or TV Stand from Ikea and get them to put it together from the instructions. Will be the first piece of self sufficiency required for most of them

Gotta say, I cannot for the life of me see the benefit of learning how to wire a plug in 2019, other than as an academic exercise. They’ve been sealed units for decades now.

It teaches you exactly the same skills you’ll need to  replace the power cable on a lawnmower or a set of hedge trimmers when you’re stupid enough to cut through the cable.

Apparently.

For the less stupid. It’s also pretty much the same skills you’ll need for changing a liight fitting or a domestic lightswitch or a socket faceplate, but without all the risk of electrocution / balancing on stepladders. I’ll bet that the first time anyone did any DIY electrical work it was changing a plug.

Yes to the torque thing! And you can even science it.

I used to help people fix bikes in a bike charity place and the amount of people putting their full strength into tightening tiny wee stem bolts and the like would make you wince.

Hang apples off the end of a metre-stick to give them intuition of what the torque value means.

10 apples hanging on the end of a metre-stick will exert 10Nm of torque into your hand. To hold it steady you need to apply 10Nm of torque through your hand. If a bolt says to torque it to 10Nm this is the amount of “twisting force” you need to apply.

6 apples = 6Nm
100 apples = 100Nm

yada yada etc. etc.

This assumes that your average apple is 100grams (they mostly are) and that gravitational acceleration is 10m/s (it mostly isn’t but is close enough an approximation for this) as this would apply 1 Newton of force.

It’s known as Newton’s apple afterall!

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Also, repairing a puncture on a bicycle. I remember being a kid and repairing my friend’s punctures, much to the shock of their parents who had no idea how to do it.

Also, meeting serious long distance cycle tourists who don’t know to leave the glue until it’s touch-dry before applying the patch, then wondering why it’s not worked.

How about some other useful skills such as ironing and sewing – not just all the man-cave stuff?

How to take out your own appendix during rush hour using only tools that other passengers on the bus will have in their handbags

when i was teaching D& T to y7 was always shocked at how few could use the basic tools so as Matt says holding /using saw ,hammer screwdriver(manual) will throw up plenty of challenges do they still have to do axe and saw as part of a badge? its a long time ago since my scouting days!!

It teaches you exactly the same skills you’ll need to replace the power cable on a lawnmower or a set of hedge trimmers when you’re stupid enough to cut through the cable.

Apparently.

🤣 Fair point.

I’ll bet that the first time anyone did any DIY electrical work it was changing a plug.

True, but that was 30 years ago!

Ironing shirts and polishing shoes properly – we do it each year at BB’s.

Plumbing a new washing machine in. 😉

Tying a plank onto a roof rack.

Fitting mains smoke detector in the Highlands? 😉

Wiring a plug is a bit redundant these days tbh, although Gove did put it back in gcse science so it will help them!!

My lad is a Scout (13). I had him on the circular saw last week.
Get em on these tools but teach them to respect them.

You’d never get a circular saw through a Scouting risk assessment though. 🙂

Start em on something easy, bird boxes are good.

https://www.rspb.org.uk/fun-and-learning/for-families/family-wild-challenge/activities/build-a-birdbox/

I’m doing the above with my Beaver Colony.