The Ludoland Experience
Exemples of projects made by kids
Our Program
The Ludoland Experience is and woodworking journey offered to children aged 6 to 14.
The program is especially designed for young students. We only use hand tools and traditional techniques, for a safe and calm environment, and we take the necessary time to walk every participant through safety measures and to accomplish tasks and projects.
Even thought the Ludoland Experience is about woodworking, the impact we strive to get on participants goes far beyond it. As we like to say, we are not training future carpenters or cabinet makers. While building their project, participants will also build their character, during that important time of life childhood is. We are focusing both on craftsmanship and personal growth.
We highly encourage parents of participants to embrace that philosophy. Do not focus too much on the final result when your child comes back home with a project, but instead, reinforce your child self esteem and pride of accomplishing something, and ask question about the process, about what they did well, the mistakes, how they solved it …
We truly believe our experience can change children lives.
WHAT's IMPORTANT IN OUR PROGRAM
SAFETY
Safety is the most important aspect of our experience. It’s the key for children to feel confident in using the tools and enjoy their time in the shop. For this reason, we only use hand tools and each participant is walked thru safety rules before using them.
CREATIVITY
Depending on the program you choose, your child will either work on a pre designed project, or a project they chose and designed. On both options, we are giving as much as possible freedom to customize the project. Woodworking is all about being creative and developing an artistic feeling, and it’s important for us to give that same chance to children.
Learn, PraCTICE, DO IT YOURSELF
We emphasize the experience on those 3 axis.
- Learning the techniques of the tools we will use.
- Practicing the techniques on scrap pieces of wood. We want participants to feel comfortable with the techniques before starting their project! It takes time and patience, which is amazing virtue.
- DIY! Pride comes with what you do, so we don’t do cuts for kids. It does not matter if the project is perfect or not, the most important is that everything was made from your child’s hands!
PROBLEM SOLVING
This is probably one the most important skill children will learn with the Ludoland Experience. Something they will keep for their entire life, and that will help them as future adults.
Woodworking is full of problems and difficulties, and as there’s not only one way to do things, some options may happen to be easier than other.
We tend to not explain problems and solutions to participants. Instead, we try to get them to anticipate problems. Once they identify it, we can talk about how to solve it based on all the techniques learned.
The impact of that pedagogy on participant has proven to be very strong.
CHARACTER BUILDING
Without even realizing it, with that experience, children will build a newer version of themselves. They will build self confidence, self esteem, and will believe more and more in their potential.
Pride and positive reinforcement is essential!
MISTAKES
It may seem strange to say mistakes are important. But yes we do believe that doing mistakes and learning go together. There is no learnings without trying new things and making mistakes.
This is misconception of our society that mistakes are bad. They are for us essential, it means you are going out of your comfort zone, trying new things and learning. This is why we encourage kids to try tools, techniques … and will never shame them for their mistakes.
PEACEFUL ATMOSPHERE
Peaceful atmosphere is the key to enjoy the experience. This is why we only work with small group of motivated participants. We also highly encourage participants to help each other. There is no race or contest on who’s the best. Woodworking is very relaxing and participants can really get into a calm and focusing zone where time is just flying.
THE LUDOLAND EXPRIENCE OFFERS
Saturday morning classes
Pre designed projects
$50 per day (1 hour sessions) 9+ years old
$45 per day (45 minutes sessions) 6 - 8 years old
PD Days
Junior woodcarving club
$60 per day (1 hour sessions)
Full week sessions
Project chosen and designed by participants
$275 per session (1.5 hour/day)
– Woodworking classes are open to kids aged 6 to 14 –
– Classes are held in our woodworking studio, in the Brownstone Plaza, 1275 Broad street –
– Choose a program and pick any available spot for your child. They will come every day of the session at the chosen spot –
– Participants need to bring water bottle and a pair of good shoes for safety. No open shoes allowed –
– Drop off no early 5 minutes before and pick up no later than 5 minutes as well –
– All the materiel will be provided. However, if you have some wood you want to bring for your child to work with, we will be glad to take it and get it ready for the session.
SATURDAY MORNING CLASSES
Our classes are running every school week Saturday mornings, in our studio on 1275 Broad street. Parents are invited to register their child for a frequency of programming that fits their individual schedules. A 10% discount is offered for children attending all Saturdays of the month.
Attention, our classes are not set for kids to complete 1 project per month your register. Our program is designed so each participant can work to their own rhythm, focusing more on the quality of the experience rather than the quantity of projects done.
Kids must have started grade 1 to attend.
Kids aged 6 to 8 have a 45 minutes spot reserved from 9 to 9:45 – $45 per participant
Kids aged 9+ have 2 one hour spots reserved from 10 to 11 and 11:15 to 12:15 – $50 per participant
2024 - 2025 PD DAYS
JUNIOR WOOD CARVERS
DIG INTO THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF WOODCARVING
Whittling safely with a knife, carving letter … Wood carving offers endless creative possibilities. Join our junior woodcarving club on PD days! An hour of relaxation while learning new skills!
Sessions are available each PD Day from 9:30 to 10:30 and from 10:45 to 11:45. We are limiting session to 1 hour for safety reasons, woodcarving can be hard on hands and fingers and concentration.
