• Small pieces of wood

• A small saw

• Sandpaper

• Hand drill and drill bit

• Bar clamp

• Bench vice (optional)

• Paints and pens to decorate

• Metal or cord key ring pieces (you could find an old key chain at home and re-purpose the parts from it, or buy one from your local $2 shop or second hand store)

Step 1: Plan your design

Plan your design and choose your piece of wood - check out the pictures at the top of the page for some fun ideas!
Choose simple shapes that are easy to cut.
Make sure you think about how the end product will be used and select a piece of wood that will work best. For example, if it needs to fit in a pocket it can’t be too thick.

Step 2: Cut the wood

Draw the lines where the wood needs to be cut with a pencil and ruler.
If you have a bench vice, secure your piece of wood.
Then saw it to length and shape.

Step 3: Sand the wood

Sand your piece of wood with the sandpaper so that the corners and edges are nice and smooth.

Step 4: Drill the hole

Decide where your key ring or cord needs to go and mark it with a pencil. Then put a second piece of scrap wood underneath, and secure them both using the bar clamp.
Using the hand drill, drill a hole through.

Don’t put your chain or cord in yet! It is easier to decorate first without it.

Step 5: Decorate the keychain

Decorate your key chain with paint, pens, bits and bobs! Look at the pictures at the top of the page for inspiration.
If you like the raw wood look rather than paint, then protect the wood with olive oil. Get a small piece of cotton cloth and put a few drop of oil on it. Rub the oil on your wood, let it sink in for a minute and then buff off any excess with a clean cloth.

Step 6: Attach the chain

Once the paint and other decorations are dry, thread your chain or cord through the keyring. Complete!

Lisa’s Top Tips

To create the robot look, use an assortment of screws and washers in a thicker piece of wood. Use screws for eyes, and leave part of the screw sticking out to act as legs, arms, or antennae!

When using screws for decorations you will need to drill a hole first for them to screw in to.

If you are using a thicker piece of wood, you can use an eyelet screw (shown on our robots) to provide a place to attach a keyring rather than using a cord or chain.