Introduction to Whittling

This meeting touches on several topics: it's a great way to begin to teach kids about knife safety skills and the parts of a knife, they get to make a cool model of a working knife that they can take home, and they can practice controlling a knife in a safe way. The knife kits can generally be found for $11 to $13 each.

• Opening Ceremony
• Talk about Knife Safety
  • Knives are not toys
  • What do we use knives for?
  • Why is safety important?
• Model Knives
  • The kids will require a little help to get these together
  • Demonstrate how they work
  • Talk about the parts of a knife
  • Demonstrate how to hand a knife to someone safely
• Snack & Story Time
• Soap Carving Activity
  • You want to use a soft white soap for this, like Ivory.
  • It may be helpful to have a book or two of ideas for carving.
  • They can use their knives and you can also provide some additional tools for carving (ceramics tools work well for this)
  • Put down newspaper or some sort of cloth before you carve, as the soap shavings will get everywhere.
• Have the kids share what they created
• Closing Ceremony

• Model Knife Kits
• Ivory Soap Bars
• Book for Story Time
• Additional Carving Tools
• Newspaper or tablecloth

• Make a model
• Make a craft item