Use the woodburning technique with kids to make a keepsake cutting board. This board would be a perfect gift for moms and grandmas, as it captures both the child’s handprints and handwriting!

Use woodburning technique with kids to learn a new craft and make a cutting board that would be a perfect homemade gift for moms and grandmas. The keepsake cutting board captures both the child's handprints and handwriting!

If you like trying new crafts, woodburning is another interesting technique to explore. I was quite fond of woodburning when I was around eight. My mom, my grandma, and all my relatives received a wood-burned cutting board from me as a present! It was probably not great art, but at least it was useful, right?

I haven’t played with woodburning in ages. But now my son is approaching that same age, and he enjoys crafting, too. So, we bought a simple woodburner and did our first project together.

The post contains Amazon affiliate links to the products we used.

We made a cutting board that captures his handprints and handwriting. It was fun for me to remember my childhood experience while sharing it with my son. I hope he enjoyed it, too.

Why Try Woodburning?

It’s a unique technique that lets you leave permanent designs on wood while preserving its natural beauty.
It’s perfect for turning everyday wooden objects into personalized gifts (think cutting boards, hammer handles, picture frames, etc. – just make sure they’re wooden).
It also works well for creating some rustic decor.
It uses a tool that would really appeal to boys. I’m not saying that girls wouldn’t like it. I was a girl, and I loved it. But, you know, this is the kind of craft that might inspire a boy who isn’t into all crafts but likes tinkering and building.

What Is the Right Age to Start?

Now, this is a tricky question. The tip of the woodburner gets very hot – hot enough to burn wood – so it requires certain precautions.

Manufacturers recommend woodburners to children of twelve and above. There were no such recommendations on my old woodburner. It was marketed as a kid’s toy, and by the time I was twelve, I actually thought that I had long outgrown it. It was only much later that I discovered beautiful woodburning pictures made by professional artists and rather wished that I had continued practicing with it.

In my opinion, a simple pen woodburner requires about the same level of preparation as a hot glue gun. So, when the kid is ready to use a hot glue gun, he or she is probably ready to use a woodburner. Stay close by and monitor the activity. Don’t forget to unplug it as soon as you’re done!

How to Woodburn a Cutting Board

First, you’ll need a wooden cutting board. We’ve got ours from Ikea, but that was a few years ago. I’m not sure if they still carry the same ones. Thrift stores and dollar stores will likely have something suitable. It is also possible to woodburn a bamboo cutting board, but the burnt marks are not very dark, so if you can, go for a light-coloured hardwood – maple, beech or birch.

Have the child place his or her hands in the centre of the cutting board so that the index fingers and thumbs form a heart.

Outline them with a pencil.

Ask the child to write a message underneath.

Now, it’s time to plug the wooburner in and wait for about 5 minutes. It needs to heat to a certain temperature before it will burn. If you have never used a woodburner or have not used it for a while, experiment on a scrap of wood – an old cutting board or a wooden block – before starting on the cutting board.

The idea is to slowly move the woodburner over the pencil lines, leaving a burning mark behind. The temperature on small woodburning pens is not very consistent, so sometimes you may be required to wait a few seconds for it to heat up again.

This is a job that an older kid can do, but I did it for my five-year-old son.

He experimented on an old wooden block and concluded that he could make dots by stabbing the tool into the wood. I thought that adding some different texture would be good, so I suggested that he decorate the heart with dots. So he did.

And this is the finished cutting board.

More Crafts?

This is a template for making paper-cut art that captures the scene of an adult and child walking side by side on the beach, their footprints about to be washed away by an incoming wave. It is about the swift passage of time—and love for seaside walks!