If you bought one of the Halloween-themed flashlights pictured above from Target recently, you should “immediately stop using the flashlights and return the product to any Target store for a full refund.” The CPSC reports that these flashlights “can overheat and melt, posing a burn hazard to consumers.” So far the manufacturer has heard of eight such incidents, “including one report of burns to the hand.”

Or hey, better yet, skip the Halloween-themed gear when it comes to the important stuff. If you want to give your kids a flashlight to carry during the yearly loot-fest, why not go with a tried-and-true quality flashlight? Bonus: it’s far less likely to end up in the trash can once we move on to Turkey day and X-Mas.

Halloween Flashlights Recalled Due to Burn Hazard [CPSC]

Want to get the kids involved in handiwork but not ready to hand over your power drill to a first-grader? Arizona Tools offers a cool gift idea for kids aged around 6-10: Allied’s Junior Cruiser Assortment Tool Set. Aside from giving them a chance to spend time with Dad or Mom or Grandpa Joe, it goes a long way toward developing dexterity and a sense of independence (read: when they’re thirty they won’t still be calling you to help them put air in a tire).

The kit is made with heat-treated, likely inexpensive materials (the whole set retails for under $30) including a flashlight (batteries not included), tire gauge, Phillips and flathead screwdrivers, 18 hex keys (SAE/Metric with holders), a 10′ tape measure, 6″ slip joint pliers, a 1/4″ spinner handle, and 20 1/4″ drive sockets of various SAE and metric sizes. Customer reviews at Arizona Tools are positive, though many folks wish that it included a hammer. Then again, when you’re eight, everything’s a hammer.

Allied Junior Cruiser Assortment Tool Set [Arizona Tools]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Allied Junior Tool Sets Via Amazon [What’s This?]

Here’s Toolmonger’s own Nick Carter and his able assistant Henry assembling a flat-pack entertainment center. Though Henry may not be quite ready to undertake a larger project like this by himself, we applaud Nick for getting the next generation of tool guys stoked about building.

As you can see, young Henry’s already learning to use the right tool for the right job. That’s a talking Bob the Builder hammer he’s got there to pound in the cams. Nick himself admits it wasn’t a bad choice, as it has a soft face.

Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]

When two hands aren’t enough to keep up with the baby and get your work done, you grab a tool to solve the problem.  If you don’t have a tool for the job, you buy one — and if you can’t buy one, you make do and build something.  Though it’s a bit strung-together, this impromptu safety barrier also turned out to be baby’s first slick track.

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You know your baby’s a Toolmonger if:

• His favorite outside activity is watching dump trucks and loaders at the worksite.
• As soon as he can crawl, he’s chewing on your work boots.
• He likes sawdust better than banana.
• He uses every object as a hammer.
• He prefers trucks over racecars.
• He seems to be using drool as cutting fluid for his teeth.
• Animal sounds are beyond him, but he makes engine noises.
• Building blocks are an opportunity for demolition.
• He cries when you vacuum, but not when you run the drill press.
• Even wearing a diaper, he sports a Toolmonger’s crack.

Thanks to terinea for the baby Toolmonger entertainment photo!

Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]

I had a plastic welding kit when I was a kid — one very much like the one (pictured above) that I ran across on Gizmodo last week. It’s a pretty simply toy: a motor in the “welder” spins plastic “welding rods.” The friction between the soft plastic “rod” and other plastic items creates enough heat to melt the rod, which then hardens and attaches things together.

(I know, since it’s almost always the rod that melts instead of the items kids are hooking together, this is technically brazing. But try writing kid-friendly packaging with “brazing” on it.)

As the Giz points out, this kind of toy is probably a lawsuit waiting to happen — you know, when little Bobby gets a small welt from spinning the rod on his finger, or when Timmy brazes his toy cell phone to the front of daddy’s new $5,000 plasma HDTV. Such is our litigious society.

So instead of learning from the welt, Bobby grows up in blissful ignorance, eventually picking up a Harbor Freight MIG unit after a long night of American Chopper reruns, and proceeds to flash and burn the crap out of himself and every metal item he owns. (Timmy, well, grows up to be a well-adjusted kid spared the merciless ass-beating he’d have endured after jacking up the TV.)

My point is simple: it’s easy to hurt yourself with tools — especially as a child. But that doesn’t mean we should shield children from every possible injury, robbing them of valuable — and often inexpensive — life experience. Toys like this plastic welder give kids a chance to use a real tool and learn how fun it can be to take charge of one’s environment instead of just accepting things the way they are. As most Toolmongers know, with a few tools, a lot of sweat and spare time, and enough desire, one can have most anything.

Anyway, if you want to buck the trend and give your kids an early start, you can have your own Discovery Power Welder for about $30 via the link below. And do us (and yourself) a favor: follow up that tool gift with the gift of knowledge and experience, lest you find (as Gizmodo suggests) “all your credit cards fused into one lump, never to be used again.”

Working Plastic-Welder Toy For Kids [Gizmodo]
Discovery Power Welder [Discovery Store]

My folks tell me that I started gardening early, pulling up icicle radishes and eating them, dirt and all, at age two. One photo of me as a youngster shows me wielding a rather large pitchfork — but I don’t recall any pint-size gardening tools.

I know that getting children involved is the best way to teach them, and I want to train them to be safe. Should I be looking for under-sized chainsaws and jackhammers for my kids and grandkids? Are small tools the way to go? Let us know in comments.

Kids’ Garden Tool Set [eToys]

If you or your children are interested in crafting small derby cars, head to Lowe’s on Tuesday for a free demonstration. After they show you how to make a derby car faster and more aerodynamic, your kids’ll get an attendance badge, and you’ll receive a coupon for 10% off Dremel products. See more details after the jump.

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This wooden steam shovel kicks the crap out of Fisher Price or even Tonka — it actually works! It swivels and digs with a bucket controlled by two wooden levers. Holz Toys has a winner here — heck, we want one.

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This season, give your little girl a chainsaw – a chainsaw ornament, that is — with pink Swarovski crystals and a pink ribbon to match.  Or, if a chainsaw doesn’t seem just right, maybe a circ saw or a power drill are more her thing. 

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Every kid knows that the best toy is one made lovingly by a parent. Why not spend some of your shop time this weekend making a special toy for your kids? Check out the link below for some excellent instructions on how to make your very own kaleidoscope.

According to the author, the kaleidoscope was invented in 1816 by Sir David Brewster. If Sir David can build one two centuries ago, you — with all your high-tech tools and know-how — can probably throw one together today, right?

(Thanks, fdecomite, for the great cc-licensed photo.)

Weekend Project: Kaleidoscope Making [Queens University Math@Home]

Why buy one of those crappy plastic McForts when you could easily build an awesome playhouse for your kids on your own? This article over on FamilyFun.com offers some ideas on how to build a simple and inexpensive playhouse in an afternoon, but you certainly don’t have to limit yourself to their ideas. If you’ve got the whole weekend to work on it, why not build ‘em a fully-enclosed building complete with furniture and bookcases?

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There’s little cooler than making a toy for your kids (or friends’ kids). The sparkle in their eyes as they run off to play not only warms your heart — it also ensures another generation of people who know how to make things. Here’s an easy way to start: a yo-yo kit from Penn State Industries. 

Just select a kit that matches your woodworking prowess. If you’re a wood newbie, you can choose the kit with all the parts you need to make custom a yo-yo. If you’re a little more experienced, though, they sell cutters you can chuck up in your drill press to turn out ready-to-assemble yo-yo blanks. And if you have a lathe, they offer a mandrel for turning your own kick-ass custom blanks.

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TM reader Rabbiperetz writes: “When I saw this, I knew it just had to be the first toys for my two-week-old baby.  I think he might just be your youngest Toolmonger.”  See?  There’s nothing like getting ‘em started early.

My First Tools [Ty's Toy Box]

Think kids don’t have a place in the shop?  Toolmonger reader and photo pool member Kurt busts this myth with this photo of a project he recently completed with his daughter Sophia.  In fact, he posted a series of pictures showing the whole process as he and Sophia built it.  Check out the photo pool for the rest of ‘em.

It’s photos and stories like this that make me proud to be a Toolmonger.  Congrats, Sophia, on a project well done from your new friends here at TM!

Toolmonger’s Photo Pool [Flickr]

Lawnmowers + kids - proper safety = injuries.  From Child Health News:

“Each year, lawn mower accidents send 9,400 U.S. children to the hospital, causing injuries more severe than any other tool or device, research shows.  The most common injuries are lacerations, fractures, and amputations of the fingers, toes, feet, and legs.”

Somehow this isn’t surprising.  My Father – a professional machinist, carpenter, and woodworker — managed to mangle a finger while repairing a self-propelled walk-behind.  Sadly, lawn mowers are so simple and common that we often forget the danger they pose to the complacent.

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We give a hearty thumbs-up to LiftMaster for publishing this great little garage door safety coloring book on their website.  Almost everyone has a garage door opener, yet we often forget that when used incorrectly they can hurt children, pets, and, yes, your car.

Some of the points made in the coloring book:

• “Garages are for cars… not for kids.”
• “When you play, stay out of the way.”
• “Grownups park in the garage… Kids play in the yard.”
• and most importantly of all, “You can’t win a race with the garage door.”

Thanks to LiftMaster for thinking of kids and pets.  Now who’ll step up to make a garage door safety drinking game to keep adults from closing the door on their Hummers?

Seriously, though, if you have kids and a garage door opener, you might want to grab a copy.  They’re free.

TomCat Discovers Garage Door Opener Safety [PDF: LiftMaster]