DIY rocking horse made of wood and available materials photo and video

In modern children's stores you can buy toys for every taste and budget - mechanical, musical, talking, educational, but there are those that have a centuries-old history and will definitely evoke nostalgic memories for most parents. Wooden rocking horses are just one of these. They still remain very popular, although they have undergone some changes over time.

Horse made of branches

This is a very interesting way to make a wooden horse with your own hands. It does not require expensive materials; all of them are usually available at any country house. The basis for creating the figurine is the use of tree branches and roots.

Work progress:

Before you begin construction work, choose a location in the garden. Where will the figurine be placed? Because it will have to be done on the spot, it cannot be moved.
Work begins on creating a horse from branches from a frame. The rest of the parts will be attached to it. It is necessary to select large branches and dig them into the ground for reliability. Consider the option that these branches from the frame will serve as legs for the horse.
After the frame is installed, begin to braid it with branches, in the same way as a regular wicker fence. First, the frame is braided by vertical branches, and then by horizontal ones. Do not rush, the branches must be securely attached to each other so that the structure does not fall apart under the influence of wind and other natural phenomena.
Make a frame for the neck and braid it as well.
It’s better to make the head separately, it will be more convenient, and then install the ready-made one on the neck.
Add a mane to the figurine and you can consider the horse to be ready. If desired, it can also be painted or varnished, so the branches will last longer.

Making such a horse is possible for people who are patient, because the first time the branches may not intertwine with each other as needed and crawl out of the shape of the structure. But you can always start with small figures and then move on to larger ones. In addition, you can see examples of wooden horses in the photo.

Making a horse figurine: stages of work

As a rule, a horse is cut out of plywood quite simply and quickly. The main thing that every novice master should remember is to follow the sequence of processes and pay attention to all the small details.

Conventionally, the process of working on the material can be divided into several stages:

Drawing on a sheet;
Work on cutting the material along the resulting contour;
Additional processing of the resulting figure.

Sheet of material for further making crafts

It should be noted that in addition to horses, any other figures of animals and objects can be obtained in the same way: birds (for example, cats made of plywood), cars or any other objects.

The process of obtaining decorative jewelry and products is unified and differs only in small and insignificant details. (see also DIY plywood box - detailed manufacturing guide)

Drawing on a sheet of material: features

The first thing you need to do before cutting a cat out of plywood or the same horse is to select the material. As a rule, any brand of wood sheet is suitable for crafts; fortunately, the domestic market today offers a huge selection of materials.

The main requirement for pressed wood sheets is a smooth surface and the absence of any visible serious defects that could lead to a deterioration in the appearance of the finished product.

Advice. To make the same horses or other figures (as well as children's toys), it is recommended to use pressed plywood. This is a durable and dense material that can be easily processed and does not crack or break.

Materials and tools

To work you will need:

plywood (at least 18 millimeters), boards / furniture board;
wood glue;
drawings or templates, patterns;
paint and brush for decoration;
thread or rope for decoration;
jigsaw;
router (optional);
drill;
chisel;
sandpaper of different grain sizes;
pencil;
ruler.

Here are the minimum necessary materials and tools for making a simple model of a rocking horse.

Painting a wooden horse

If your horse, in such an unprocessed form, completely integrates into the design of the garden, then you can leave it like that, just open it with paint so that the boards do not rot. Or you can give the horse a certain color and for this you will need: varnish, paint and stain, or replace all this with colored wood varnish. Decorate the animal's face, mane, you can paint the horse the color of a zebra or with multi-colored stripes. This toy can be placed near the playground and in a recreation area. The horse's body is a box, so you can pour black soil into it and plant flowers, then the horse will turn into a flowerbed for simple decoration.

Glue and rope were mentioned in the required materials; thin and thick parts need to be fastened with glue, and rope is an additional fastener; it also serves as decoration.

Build quality and safety

The eyes and hole for the tail are made using a drill. If you plan to make a structure that will not be disassembled in the future, then all joints during assembly are additionally treated with glue intended for gluing wooden products. Attach the base assembly to the finished elephant. Make sure that the gurney swings easily and is stable at the same time.

Safe paint is used to paint children's toys. The rocking chair can be painted in different colors or made one color. After the two days it takes for the paint to dry, you can begin applying clear varnish. It will add extra shine and protect the paint from cracking. The rocker assembly parts can be painted individually or after final assembly. The finished product is painted in several stages so that the top and base are completely painted.

When the baby rocking chair is ready, all that remains is to fix the rope to the place where the tail is attached. To make the tail, you will need a rope of such thickness that it can be freely inserted and glued into a previously drilled hole.

: Carved work

All cutting takes place on foam, which is quite easy - so easy that you can trim off any excess! Therefore, take your time and also follow safety precautions.

I did most of the work with a sharp long carving knife. Be careful not to cut your fingers. ALWAYS cut away from your fingers.

Next, as expected, I sanded it all down. Try not to hold the sandpaper in your hands when sanding, as this will affect the retention of the correct shape.

All processing was done by eye using a pattern taken from the shape of the example image I showed at the beginning of this article.

The pictures show a structure with already treated foam. I found that I needed to use lightweight filler to fill in a few places where I had cut too much and the join joints between foam sections (that's the white filler in the photo). I used regular filler (for wall cracks) which I think worked great.

The work is difficult

. This craft can perfectly decorate an empty shelf or table. For cutting you will need:

Sawing tools.

The selection of plywood depends on the size of the parts, in this case you will need a lot of plywood. Before transferring the drawing onto plywood, sand it with coarse-grain sandpaper and finish with fine-grain sandpaper. It is more convenient to sand with a wooden block wrapped in sandpaper. Sand the prepared plywood along the layers, not across. A well-polished surface should be flat, completely smooth, glossy-matte in the light and silky to the touch. Pay attention to grain placement, knots, dents and other imperfections. Quality and color.

Translation of the drawing onto plywood is carried out using a copy, a ruler and a sharp pencil. Translate slowly, fixing the drawing on the plywood with buttons or holding it with your hand. There is no need to rush here. After you have transferred the drawing to plywood, you need to drill holes using a hand drill with a No. 3 drill.

Cut out the details of the horse according to the drawing you have precisely marked. First, cut out the holes inside the drawing, only then along the contour. Avoid bevels and any irregularities. Don't forget to watch your posture. Take your time. Try to cut out the details of the night light as accurately as possible. In order for the horse to stand, you need to cut out a stand of any shape.

When all the parts have been cut out, you need to sand the surface again, only with fine-grained sandpaper. If there are burrs or irregularities after cleaning, clean the parts with needle files.

It also happens that when working, your hands and eyes get tired. In order to reduce the load, you need to do a couple of exercises. You can view the exercises here.

When all the parts are cut, clean them with sandpaper. Because at the very beginning you already cleaned the plywood, now you have to do a little sanding of the parts. Clean the edges of the parts with “Medium” sandpaper and the front surface with “Fine-grained” sandpaper. To choose the right sandpaper, you need to read a little about its properties. You can read it here.

After all the parts of the craft have been thoroughly cleaned, try to assemble the craft. When assembling, look at the drawing of the finished craft and do not forget about the rule: part number 1 must be attached to another part number 1, part number 2 to 2 parts, and so on. If the parts do not fit into the right places, file them down or clean them with needle files. When the craft is assembled without problems, glue it together. You need to glue the horse using PVA or titan glue. You don't need to pour a lot of glue.

How to choose?

The horse will become your child's faithful friend for several years. The kid will spend many days playing games, imagining himself as a knight rushing to defeat a dragon, or a princess who decided to go on her own adventures. Considering that the baby will spend a lot of time with the toy, its choice must be approached very responsibly.

Important: before purchasing, make sure that the rocking horse you choose is suitable for your child. To make your choice easier, there are a number of criteria that should be followed:

Material

A wooden horse is the most stable because it is quite heavy. It will be difficult for a child to accidentally turn it over and fall, even if he swings very intensely on it. Wood is the most optimal material for playing at home. Summer is the best time to play outdoors. If you want the rocking horse to become your baby’s companion on the street - on the playground or in the country, it is better to choose plastic. This material is wear-resistant, does not fade under the sun, and is not afraid of water.

The plastic is easily and quickly washed off from street dirt - ordinary wet wipes are enough to wipe it.

A rubber toy has one important advantage - it is hypoallergenic, which is especially important if the baby is prone to allergies. It is made of durable, high-quality rubber, which is very easy to wash, and the horse will not collect dust. On such a horse you can not only swing, but also ride due to the elasticity of the rubber, which is very useful for the physical development of the child.

The most comfortable and beautiful option is a plush horse. The frame is usually made of plastic or wood, but the upholstery is much more reminiscent of a real horse. The animal has a long mane and tail that are fun to comb and decorate. This toy is a great gift for a birthday or New Year; a child will remember it for a long time.

Safety

Of course, rocking chairs for children should not only be beautiful and durable, but also safe. When choosing the right model, be sure to look at the label; the information on it should indicate the age of the child for whom it can be used. Check the stability of the skids and the swing amplitude. If the toy swings too much, it will tip over along with the little rider. This is especially true for plastic horses - they are the lightest.

Finishing options for the finished toy

Once the rocking chair is completely ready, you can begin painting or painting it. In this matter, it is important to take into account the child’s age and interests. For example, a cowboy horse for a boy could be made, while a rocking horse for a girl could be painted white and trimmed with a colored mane and long tail.

For the little ones, the option with a horse located in the meadow is suitable. In this case, the runners are painted green to imitate grass, and several flowers can also be painted in the area of the horse’s mouth.

The general style of the design should be natural, then even the smallest ones will soon begin to recognize the horse and will study and master it with interest.

Materials 1. furniture board 2. handle (from a shovel) 3. wooden chopsticks (sticks) 4. wood glue 5. pattern

Tools 1. jigsaw 2. drill 3. sandpaper 4. pencil 5. ruler 6. router 7. brush

If all the components are present, then the toy for the child will be made for free. According to the author, he spent a long time choosing and searching for a sample on the Internet, having found it, he made a pattern directly from the computer monitor, then he scaled them and transferred them to a newspaper.

To simplify this process, you can use the drawings.

Then the master proceeds to making patterns, for this he uses ordinary newspaper, and this is what he came up with.

Next, the resulting templates are applied to the existing furniture board, and the outline of the future part is outlined.

After the outline is applied to the surface, the author takes a jigsaw and cuts out the blanks.

Holes should be drilled in the resulting parts, which is what the master does.

Next, the caring father takes the parts and fastens them with clamps, this is necessary in order to trim and sand them.

DIY Wooden Rocking Horse Drawings

The rocking horse's neck was broken, I decided to rip it open, see what was broken there and repair it. Look what.

Expert opinion

Strebizh Viktor Fedorovich, leading construction foreman

Please note that the circumference of the sides should not be semicircular; this toy will sway too much, and it is easy to turn over and fall on it. If you want to clarify something, please contact me!

Tire swing

Car tires are quite durable, but cut well. The most primitive use of a tire is similar to a bungee swing: the tire is tied in a vertical position to a branch with a rope, and you can sit in such a swing. But such a seat is not very comfortable, and its appearance is not aesthetically pleasing. This is not yet a reason to refuse to use tires.

A swing made from a tire tied horizontally to three or four chains looks much better. Four or three holes are drilled in the tire at equal distances from each other, and an eyelet is inserted into each of them and secured with a nut. It is useful to place wide washers between the eye and the seat (and between the nut and the seat). The ropes (or chains) are brought together to rest at one point on a steel ring.

A strip cut from a tire is used instead of a board, as described above. In this case, “ears” are attached to the edges of the tire strip, which hold a rope or hook a carabiner to a chain.

Tires can be used to make various shapes for swings.

The simplest swing

The simplest swing can also be hung on a thick branch, but it is better to make a crossbar with supports for this. The design of the supports will be described at the end of this article.

Simple rocker with soft seat

The seat is a square or rectangular board suspended at the four corners. You can use plywood. Not far from the corners, four holes are drilled in the seat, into which a rope or eyelet is passed (the eyelet has a ring instead of a head); if the eye is not used, then the rope can be passed through the hole and tied with a knot (its thickness should be equal to the diameter of the hole), thus securing the board to it. If an eyelet is used, then instead of a rope, a chain can be taken, which is attached to the eyelet with a carabiner.

A back made of the same plywood can be attached to the seat using metal corners. Another version of the backrest (suitable for small children) is shown in photo 2. Tubes of wood up to 30-40 cm long (of the same length!) are put on the ropes, after which a stick-crossbar with drilled holes along the edges is put on each two adjacent ropes. This design, despite its simplicity of manufacture, is quite convenient, safe and will serve for a long time.

DIY rocking toy

Few of us did not dream of such a toy as children. Often there were such toy horses in kindergarten, and sometimes the children almost fought, arguing whose turn it was to play. Nowadays the children's horse is becoming popular again, so it will be an excellent gift for a child. The design of the toy is quite simple, so it will not be difficult for you to assemble it yourself. The materials used largely depend on the type of toy and design chosen, but the most commonly used are:

sheet of plywood or wooden boards;
copy of the template;
carbon paper to transfer the pattern onto plywood or wood;
table;
jigsaw;
awl;
glue, paint, brush set.

When making a horse, use only environmentally friendly and hypoallergenic materials. This is especially true for paints and glue. The horse can be additionally decorated with synthetic fur upholstery, but in this case, do not forget about the foam layer so that the baby can sit softly.

How to make a plywood horse?

The selected drawing should be enlarged by the required number of times, depending on the age and height of the child. Most often, the scheme is increased by 8-10 times for children 4-5 years old, respectively. The classic plywood horse consists of 7 parts - be sure to number them so that it is clear where each element is attached. These are the details:

Two identical sides of the horse;
A large one-piece piece with the head and tail of a horse that fits between the sides;
Two strips, with the help of which the toy is further strengthened from below;
One spacer that is installed at the rear of the rocker and connects the sides to the middle piece. A saddle is placed on top of the spacer;
Seat;
Stirrups - 2 parts attached to the saddle using straps (for which grooves must be provided in the seat);
One spacer for the front part of the horse - attached according to the same principle as a similar rear part.

Detailing.

I encountered an unpleasant moment. I tried to create a cutting map for plywood parts using the OpiNest program. The body of the horse is drawn with a spline. It turned out that OptiNest does not recognize such figures. Or maybe I did something wrong. I didn't bother with it too much. I outlined the “body” with a broken line of straight segments. To create an approximate cut map it will do. The main thing is to decide which piece of plywood is needed for one rocking horse, and how many horses will fit on a standard sheet of plywood. Then substitute the spline part in the actual cut map.

So. To make one rocking horse you need a piece of plywood approximately 700 by 1250 mm

And from a sheet of plywood it is possible to make four rocking horses.

Actually, that’s all for now at this stage. Points 4, 5, 6 are postponed for now.

I want to emphasize once again that this is still at the test project stage. Perhaps not everything will work out the first time. I am sure that it will definitely be better the second time))) I tried to take into account all the points. Could you? Only implementation will show this.

Anyone who wants/can participate in the creation will send the files. Here is a link to the author and a photo report.

It just so happens that the New Year according to the eastern calendar is the year of the horse. So this project is a gift to all site visitors! With coming! Happy New Year! In the near future I will post drawings and working files of the rocking horse. Follow the news))) Yes! There is no name for this project yet. Who has any ideas???

Dear visitors of the “SAMODELKINDRUG” website, the presented material will show in detail how to make a “rocking horse” with your own hands. Today, in children's stores there is simply an incredible variety of different toys, for every whim of your child. But prices don’t always please parents, because you know what the markup is on children’s products. So, in order to save family money and please his beloved child, the author decided to make a rocking horse with his own hands.

To do this, the master needed a minimum of material, which he bought at a hardware store: furniture board for 650 rubles, a handle for 50 rubles, wood glue for 100 rubles. You can also use plywood; many people probably have these components without purchasing them, which means you can make a toy for your child absolutely free. Let's look at what exactly the master needed, as well as all the stages of creating a rocking chair.

Materials

furniture board
stalk (from a shovel)
wood glue
wooden choppers

Tools

jigsaw
drill
brush
pattern
ruler
pencil

And so the first thing was to make drawings, but first the author had to look for them on the Internet. Next, the master made a pattern from these drawings and transferred it to the newspaper. Afterwards, the pattern is applied to the furniture panel and the outline is outlined. Then the craftsman cuts out the components of the overall design of the future toy from the shield. And now all the details are cut out. Next, the author fastens the blanks for their subsequent edging. Holes were also made in the blanks. The moment has come for assembling all the blanks into a single structure. The seat is attached. After the joints have dried, you can test the Ride!!! author, the master’s child is very pleased with the toy and now plays with it every day. As you can see, there is nothing complicated; if you wish, you can make the same one for your child and save a lot of money at the same time. If you liked this material, then you are welcome to join our group

In stores you can find a huge number of all kinds of children's rocking chairs, such as classic cradles, animal rocking chairs, for example, horses, as well as rocking chairs depicting favorite characters from children's fairy tales.

It is possible and necessary, because the manufacturing process is not labor-intensive and very exciting. All you need is desire. Be creative when making a rocking chair, don’t be afraid to experiment. Do-it-yourself baby rocking chairs will be distinguished by high quality, reliability, originality, and also low cost compared to those purchased in a store.

Rocking horse on a spring

Parents read to each child a fairy tale in verse by P.P. Ershov, “The Little Humpbacked Horse,” and children are very familiar with this cute little horse. But your child can even “ride” on it. if dad takes it upon himself to make a rocking skate

and install it in the courtyard of your house or cottage. The design of the rocking chair is simple, and anyone who knows how to hold an instrument in their hands can make it. Welding operations (if there is no apparatus or experience in performing such work) can be entrusted to a specialist or performed using so-called cold welding (connecting parts using composite materials): finally, simply replacing the welded connections of the parts with threaded ones.

The design is based on a spring from the front suspension of a small or medium-tonnage truck (GAZ, ZIL, etc.). You can also use two springs from a passenger car, screwing one into the other.

Simulation toys

The rocking horse, despite its popularity, has a small number of ready-made drawings. After all, it is now easier to purchase a ready-made model for a large sum than to make it yourself and create a unique toy.

If preference is given to the second option, then you need to seriously think about modeling the structure. To do this, you can use special computer programs. But it’s easier and more convenient to sketch out a drawing on a sheet of paper, and then create your own template.

With its help, it will be possible to transfer the contours of parts onto plywood or cut out the necessary structural elements from unplaned boards (their thickness must be at least two centimeters, otherwise the strength of the rocking chair will be insufficient).

The rocking horse must have an appropriate finish. There are practically no restrictions on this issue. The main thing is that it looks natural and does not irritate the child’s eyes.

How to make?

Making a horse out of plywood is not difficult if you have ready-made templates for cutting. You can find them on the Internet or draw them yourself.

Here is one example of patterns. They can be scaled and printed, or hand-drawn on regular newspaper.

Stages of work:

We place the pattern on the plywood and trace it. To prevent the pattern from moving, we attach it to the plywood with masking tape. We cut out the blanks with a jigsaw along the drawn lines. The plywood or boards for the head, supports and seat should be at least three centimeters thick for greater strength. We make the holes necessary for fastening in them with a drill and jigsaw, and tap them with a chisel.
Next, according to the diameter of the holes, we make sticks from the board to connect the parts.
All elements must be sanded with sandpaper. First, take a coarse-grained one to remove all the unevenness, then sand the roughness with a fine-grained one until smooth. It would be a good idea to use a router to round all the corners of the horse.

We assemble the parts in accordance with the drawing, coating all joints with wood glue. It is better to fasten the lower supports with self-tapping screws, and you need to screw them in as deeply as possible so that the child does not get hurt. You can coat them with glue on top.
Next, if you wish, you can coat the horse with varnish, draw patterns, and make a tail. After waiting for complete drying, you can begin using the product. Also, for greater comfort, you can thread the bit through the horse and make a soft saddle using foam rubber or thick fabric.

A rocking cradle in the form of a seat or crib is created in a similar way. The only thing that complicates the task is the large number of details:

For better fastening and minimal loosening of parts, it is better to use self-tapping screws. Under the seat you need to place clamps from one side to the other, which will protect it from falling through and give strength to the frame.
When making a rocking chair for small children, add a back and sides. There must be supports for arms and legs. Moreover, the hand supports should be round so that the baby can hold on comfortably.
In total, making a craft with your own hands will cost 1000 rubles, which is a good saving compared to store prices.

This DIY baby rocking chair will undoubtedly become your baby's favorite toy. After all, a thing made with love and care is valued much higher than store-bought items. The safety and beauty of the product will be at the highest level, because no loving parent will be lazy for their child.

To learn how to make a rocking chair for a child with your own hands, see the following video.

Necessary materials

The list will depend largely on the chosen template and type of rocking chair, but most often you need to prepare:

a photocopy of the selected template;
pencil and carbon paper - with its help the drawing will be transferred to plywood;
cutting table and jigsaw;
awl;
glue with a brush;
paint and finishing brushes.

A rocking horse has a good effect on the child’s vestibular apparatus, promoting its proper development. To make a children's toy, you need to use only environmentally friendly and hypoallergenic materials. Fur upholstery will help add naturalness to the horse; it is advisable to first place foam rubber or other soft material under it.

A carefully thought-out design will allow you to create a high-quality, safe and durable toy that your child will enjoy spending time with.

Stages of manufacturing a structure

To simplify the manufacturing process, it is necessary to perform all stages sequentially

Then nothing important will be missed and much less time will be spent. A wooden rocking horse is made quite simply and quickly

All parts are transferred to plywood separately in the required quantities. This is done using carbon paper and pencil.
After marking, all elements are cut out with a jigsaw.
The cut out parts are tried on. If necessary, some parts can be trimmed or edited so that the rocking horse is strong and all the holes fit perfectly into the elements.
First, parts of the horse's body, back and saddle are connected.
Then the assembled structure is attached to the legs and firmly secured with tenon holes.
The last stage is finishing. Here you can use your imagination to the fullest. There can be many options: painting, upholstery, pasting, painting, burning. It all depends on capabilities and wishes.

If desired, you can change the number and type of basic elements. But first you need to think carefully about the design so that it is comfortable for the child and stable.

Rocking horse toy for children

Advantages of a rocking horse

Having bought a horse for your child, you can be sure that he will not lose his interest and will not throw it into the far corner, as often happens with many new toys. Having so much fun that children quickly lose interest, the wooden horse is one of the rare exceptions. The peak of popularity of the rocking chair occurs at 2-3 years. Children at this age become so attached to their horse that they can put it to bed, feed it sweets, spend hours combing and braiding its long mane.

A rocking horse is a good simulator for a baby; it maintains the normal vestibular apparatus, developing it, and also improves useful skills such as dexterity and fine motor skills - you still need to be able to stay on a wooden horse. Doctors recommend this toy for children with diseases associated with the musculoskeletal system. There is another variety of toy horses - a rolling horse. Instead of two arches, she has wheels attached to her legs, so the baby must push off with his legs to move. It's essentially a scooter with a seat.

Peculiarities

The chair is a figure swaying due to a specially rounded base. The figurine can be anything: a horse, an elephant, a cradle, just a chair and any animal that comes to mind. Previously, these consisted of a wooden base, which was not very convenient, because the hardness did not allow you to relax. Today, the frame is covered with soft fabric and stuffed with foam rubber or sponge. It turns out to be a whole rocking chair - convenient and comfortable, fully replacing the child’s seat.

The benefits of a rocking chair are great. This is not just a toy for a child to have fun with, but also a good way to develop coordination and balance. And thanks to the pendulum effect, it relaxes and calms the child. It is not for nothing that doctors recommend it for the prevention of diseases of the musculoskeletal system. Also, such a simple toy will save your stools and chairs from swaying, broken legs, and scratched floors.

Advantages

A handmade toy has a number of advantages:

Availability. The high prices for store-bought rocking chairs are sometimes confusing; this is a budget way out of a problematic situation.
Communication. Oddly enough, but such a toy teaches a child to love animals. The kids take care of them, feed them, wash them and even put them to bed.
Safety. When you make it yourself, you will be confident in the quality of the toy. This applies to the materials from which it is made and to the design of the product itself.
Things made with your own hands have a special, warm energy. If you also involve the child in this, for example, ask him to hand tools or hold elements, then the work will bring even more benefits in family cohesion.

Popular types

As a child, many dreamed of such a toy. Previously, such horses were made from wood and compressed shavings. The horse, made entirely of wood, was strong and durable, but it was not very comfortable to sit on. Horses made from compressed shavings looked more realistic and looked less like a rough cross between a stool and a sled. Modern rocking chairs are made not only from natural wood, but also from plastic, rubber and plush. There are even wicker models made from willow wicker or more expensive rattan. In the assortment of today's stores you can choose a horse to suit every taste and budget. This toy is suitable for children from 1 to 7 years old.

Important: when buying a horse for very young children (no older than 1 year), choose models with a back, soft seat and fastening belts.

Plywood horse

This is the easiest way to create a craft that you can imagine. You can involve a child in making such a horse. You will need a flat plywood sheet and make a drawing of the future wooden horse on it. Next you need to cut out the design with a jigsaw. And attach the figurine to bars dug into the ground or attach it with wire to standing trees. The horse figurine is ready, and all that remains is to paint it with paints or burn it out.

To prevent garden decor in the form of a wooden horse from looking lonely, you can complement the composition with some accessories. You can attach a cart or carriage to the horse. You can place a bucket of water or flowers, or a trough of hay, near the animal. The horse looks most advantageous together with other wooden figures, so if you have the time and desire, you can make it a good company.

Additions to wooden horses in the garden

A wooden horse on the territory of a dacha looks very beautiful , but sometimes it is also very lonely. Therefore, you can always complement her figure with some accessories. For example, it could be a carriage or cart, flat or three-dimensional, depending on the type of figure. Also, you can always place a wooden bucket with flowers, made in the same style, a trough with hay, and other additional decor near the animal. But it’s even more interesting to make several figures at once to create a fun company for the cute decor.

Horse and cart

To make a horse and cart you will need thick and thin birch branches, self-tapping screws, bottle caps, and rubber winding.

A thick birch branch is suitable for the body of the horse. You need to cut out a body 50 cm long from it.
Take smaller branches for the legs. In order for the figurine to stand firmly and not wobble, you need to drive its legs into the ground. In this case, all work must be carried out in the place where the horse will stand; foresee this in advance.
In the block that will serve as the muzzle, you need to cut out a recess for the mouth.
Connect the head to the body using the neck, all wooden parts are fastened with self-tapping screws.
The eyes for the horse can also be cut out of wood, or you can use ordinary bottle caps. You can simply glue them to the muzzle with wood glue.
For the mane and tail, you need to take thin branches and weave them into a broom, attach them with nails to the body.
For the reins and saddle, you need to take the rubber tape and attach them in place using glue or nails.
Next came the turn of the cart; it can be built in different ways. You can take four wheels and connect them to birch sticks with screws, this will create a simple cart. You can take wooden boards and make a wooden box out of it, like a real cart, and attach four wheels. You can fill the cart with soil and plant flowers in it. Vegetables growing from it, such as pumpkin, look interesting. Or you can put a toy old man in the cart, then the composition will be completely completed.

About materials

Rocking chairs are made primarily of wood. Metal, for all its manufacturability, low waste and greater durability in the open air, is too heavy. The influence of the chair on the overall CG turns out to be significant, the moment of inertia of the system is large and, as a result, the rocking is too sharp. Or you have to set an extremely small initial elevation of the CO above the CO, risking that the rocking chair will tip over under someone. However, we will return to metal rockers when considering individual samples.

Using plywood to make a rocking chair

Plywood is a completely different matter, especially for novice woodworkers. Firstly, when making the parts of the rocking chair with 3-layer glued ones, you can only use a jigsaw to make accurate and durable tenon-groove joints, on the left in the figure, if you follow the following. rules:

Plywood for the middle layer is taken twice as thick as for the outer layers. For example, if you need a total thickness of 20 mm, then glue 5-10-5 mm.
The parts are assembled from blanks using 2-component waterproof glue. If it is on PVA, be sure to reinforce it with small nails.
The connections are assembled with gluing (wedging in this case is unacceptable) and reinforced with diagonal pairs of self-tapping screws on both sides.
The supporting surfaces are protected with linings made of thin (6-10 mm) strips of hard, durable wood or dense sheet rubber 4-5 mm thick. Plywood under a concentrated load cracks very well at the end.

Secondly, plywood makes it possible to use non-standard technical solutions, for example. as on the right in Fig. Such a rocking bowl can be made from plywood, again using only a jigsaw. Comfort is high, stability is absolute, and can serve as a hanging hammock chair or swing chair. The thickness of the lamella boards is from 12 mm; connecting half-washers on poles – from 24 mm.

How to install overlays

Wear-resistant wooden pads are installed on the rocking chair runners. way:

Turn the chair over with the runners up;
We warm the blank plank thoroughly with a construction hairdryer;
We place the workpiece on the runner and wrap it tightly along the entire length with cotton braid. Don't get burned, the wood is very hot!
We also grab the second workpiece onto another runner;
Once the strips have completely cooled, remove the braid bands and glue the pads with PVA on wood or with 2-component glue;
We attach the ends of the planks with small nails until the overlays fit snugly along the entire length. Place washers or pieces of plywood under the nail heads;
Once the glue has completely dried (2-3 days), remove the temporary fasteners. We drill blind holes for screws and secure the ends completely;
We fill the holes with the fastener heads with putty made from sawdust of the same tree, thickly mixed with PVA.