100's Collection: Plywood Box for Child Class Project

My older son (6 yo) came back from school with that funny project: to celebrate its 100th day at school in the year, he had to gather a 100 object collection. We decided to go to seeds collection. And then I proposed him to make a display for this. Result appeared to be much more nice than expecte !

Step 1: Box Cut Outs and Carving

I took some plywood I had and then cut out 5 pieces, to build up a square form. All sizing came from that avogado seed we have, and I draft 10x10 compartments for other seeds. In the three vertical sides, I carved a line so as to allow a future top to slide in. To do so, I took my circular saw and precisely set the blade to cut only the 3 to 4 top millimeters of my plywood.

Step 2: Glueing Box (no Nails Here --> Child Safe)

I started glueing box with wood glue. Given it is for a child class, I will not use nails, and thickness of plywood forbids any screw. Imagine if the box collapse within the classroom: this plywood with all those nails may bring a lot of fun in the classroom ... I prefered glue. Very robust. To maintain the pieces, I used some scrap wood and clamps to enclose the box being glued.

Step 3: Design the Sliding Top

For my sliding top, I cut the front side so in two, using my scroll saw. I made a nice curve that allowed me to add a small wood button. This will be used to grap the top and remove it. For the top side, I used plexiglas, cut using the scroll saw again: low speed/large blade to cut and not to melt the plexi material.

Step 4: Identical Separation in Medium

I used what I call "medium", a reconstituted wood material. I used to keep the one at the back of old drawers or high cabinet. It is very thick and quite rigid. I made 18 separators, and each of them is cut along 9 lines that goes through half of its length. Most difficult here is to get all cuts aligned, to ensure perpendicular separations. To help me, I cut one on a batch of separator, and I immediate insert some scrap medium to keep alignment for the other 8 other cuts. I then assemble the whole and insert it into the plywood box. Some sanding here and there to allow sliding top to actually slide.

Step 5: Done: Put Some Seeds in It !

We are done. Now started the funny part: find out 100 seeds. We allowed some repetition, but he managed to find a decent number of different ones: kitchen, garden were of great help. Last Caribean trip gave some colored seed as well ! He was quite proud of the achieved result. So I am !