Instructions for a Kid's Picnic Table

Children love picnics, but adult picnic tables can make it difficult for them to enjoy their picnic repasts. Because the seats are attached to the table and are at a height that's more comfortable for adults, kids can hurt themselves trying to climb up and over the seats. With a kid-sized picnic table, the chances of injury are lessened and the kids will have more fun.

Height

The key to a good kid-sized picnic table is finding the right height. Children often grow quickly, so you need to find a good compromise between their current height and how tall they might grow to be in the near future. There are charts on the Web that can help you pick the right height for your homemade picnic table (see Resources), but a good rule of thumb is to measure from the floor to the bottom of your children's knees: This will indicate the minimum height for the picnic table seats.

Adding an inch or so to this measurement will give the kids a little growing room without making the seats too tall. Set the top of the table 8 or 9 inches above the seat height. The new picnic table should accommodate your children for three or four years.

Materials

For young children weighing no more than 35 to 40 pounds, you can build their picnic table from 1-by-4 and 1-by-6 lumber. Since kids will grow out of a child's table fairly quickly, this method helps keep costs down and ensures the table is light enough to move around easily.

For most children, however, it's better to go with 2-by-4 and 2-by-6 lumber. Not only are these configurations more durable (we all know how rough a 3- or 4-year-old can be on furniture), but they look more like an adult picnic table. By limiting the length of the picnic table to 4 feet long, the table should still be fairly easy to move.

Plywood is a good compromise for a kid's picnic table. Because the table is relatively small, all you need is a single sheet of plywood. In addition, the use of panels gives you more options in joining them together; this allows you to make a sturdier table with lighter materials and also makes it easier to build a table that can be disassembled when it's not needed.

Construction

Any furnishing that will receive hard use should be assembled using screws. Use galvanized screws to help prevent rusting; you can also use carriage bolts for tables built with thicker lumber.

You should not use pressure-treated lumber: The chemicals can be harmful to kids.

Sand all edges of the table: Nothing ruins a child's picnic like splinters. You might even want to round off the corners of the top and seats. That way, children won't get jabbed while they're (inevitably) running around the table.

Finish the table just as you would any other picnic table: Kids will enjoy their table most when it looks just like "the big kids' table." Paint or exterior stain work well, but many builders simply leave the wood natural.