Teaching kids hands-on skills.

• Position: Do-It-Yourself

Does your child recognize the type of screwdriver you use as readily as the type of iPod he or she can buy? In today's high-tech world, hands-on skills sometimes get short shrift. Shop classes are being replaced with social media education, and parents struggle to pull their kids away from mobile devices, 3D televisions, and video game consoles for even a minute.

Editors at The Family Handyman have compiled a list of ways you can get your kids off the couch and into the workshop with dad this summer. They just might like it:

Introduce tools one or two at a time. Kids are frustrated easily. Be careful not to go too fast. Let them handle a tool, see how it works, and feel a sense of accomplishment with it before moving on to another one.

Work at their height. You do not like a work surface that is too high, low, or wobbly, and neither do kids. You can purchase child-size workbenches from school supply catalogs, cut down an existing workbench, or make one yourself. The workbench top should be at least 2' x 4' and stand 24" high for preschoolers and 27" high for elementary-age youngsters.

Use drywall first. Start some screws in a scrap of drywall and let the children put them in with a standard--or kid-size cordless--screwdriver.

Whack on bubble wrap. To a child who is not quite ready to drive nails, nothing feels better than whap, crackle, and pop. Supply a kid-size hammer or a rubber mallet.

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