A Guide to Making the Most of the Home Depot Kid’s Workshop

When I was a kid, one of the highlights of the week was getting to go to Home Depot with my dad. I loved admiring the lamps, helping my dad pick out materials for that week’s home projects, and wandering the garden section. Getting to help him out with both the shopping and the actual work fostered my love of DIY. The company now offers more ways to get your kids interested in these kinds of projects. I spoke with our Deputy Projects Editor, Ethan O’Donnell to get his favorite ways to make the most of Home Depot’s Kids’ Workshop offerings.

At 9 AM on the first Saturday of every month, Home Depot offers a Kids’ Workshop. You can sign up online or in-store, and you can see the projects ahead of time. These projects are kid-friendly and come in a pack. You generally only need a hammer or a screwdriver to put the whole thing together.

How to Make the Most of Your Home Depot Kids’ Workshop

Sure, you can just bring your kid and show up on the appropriate Saturday morning and wing it, but by following Ethan’s tips and tricks, you can have a little more fun and get more out of the experience.

Sign up ahead of time and get there early

Project slots fill up fast, so Ethan advises signing up well in advance and arriving early. In his experience, seating is the biggest limiting factor; there’s a finite number of work stations set up, so it pays to get there early and snag a good one.

Do your hammering on the floor

The workstations are just simple sheets of OSB laid on top of upside-down buckets. This is great for a workspace that’s easy to set up and break down, and it’s fine for the painting portion. But those OSB sheets are kind of spongy, and if you try to hammer on them, there’s some bounce back. Ethan always has his daughter do the hammering on the floor, where it’s much more solid and far less likely to bounce back.

Choose your colors wisely

When it comes time to paint the project, your kid gets to pick two colors. Consider encouraging your little one to pick two primary colors instead of asking for secondary ones. This way, you’ll be able to get three colors on your project instead of just two. If you opt for yellow and blue, for example, you can mix them to get green.

Bring your own supplies

Ethan warns that the project packs don’t always have pre-drilled holes. This won’t stop your kid from assembling it, but it does mean they’ll have to make use of a hammer. If you don’t want to risk your fingers getting hit by a hammer strike gone awry, bring some CA glue or other woodworking superglue with you. Put a couple of dabs on the bottom of the pieces that need hammering so that you don’t have to put your thumbs in harm’s way.

Bring clean-up materials

In the same vein, bring some clean-up materials with you. While Home Depot’s paint is usually chalk paint, it can still get all over your kid’s hands. Having some clean-up supplies on hand means you can address the mess right away.

Corral the project while it dries

The Kids’ Workshop ends once the projects are built, not when the paint dries. If you’re planning on heading home right after, you’ll need some kind of container to corral the project so you don’t get paint all over your car. Ethan suggests either buying something small so that you have a plastic baggie ready to go. Or, if you don’t need anything that week, bring along a bucket you don’t mind getting some paint on.