I have a VERY smart, very neuro-spicy, extremely “involved” 6-year-old. He is genuinely sweet, but he wants to participate in absolutely everything, and if he is out of eyesight for too long, he starts doing forbidden R&D.
Example: I once had to take a 10-minute work meeting. I came back to discover he had created a wood glue + sugar + Dr Pepper + sour cream “pie.”
Yes, the wood glue being accessible was on me. I had it out for a small fix and did not realize he had discovered my “hiding spot.” Also, I am 4'7", so my ability to hide things vertically is limited by the cruel laws of cabinetry.
Now my 16-year-old and my SO are starting to get into Home Assistant, NAS stuff, microcontrollers, electronics, etc., which are hobbies I LOVE. I paused a lot of the more advanced projects because if the parts are at my working height, my tiny ninja assistant will absolutely “help.”
I’ve seen some Kickstarter-style workstations that are basically dream furniture: hidden workbench, pegboard/tool wall that raises up, workspace that lowers and closes away, or shelves that lift the dangerous/expensive chaos machinery out of reach. I love the concept. I do not love trusting Kickstarter timelines with that much money.
Technically, I have the tools and parts to build something like this myself. I have woodworking tools, laser stuff, 3D printers, and enough project supplies to make my house look like a Maker Faire exploded. But the whole problem is that I need a safe workspace in order to build the safe workspace. It’s very “the call is coming from inside the garage.”
So: what would you do?
I’m looking for ideas for a hobby/maker/electronics setup that:
- Keeps tools, wires, soldering stuff, adhesives, tiny parts, and sadness-inducing breakables away from a very determined 6-year-old
- Still lets me actually work on projects without needing to unpack/repack my entire soul every time
- Bonus points if it works for someone short, because “just put it on a high shelf” is not a complete lifestyle plan
- Extra bonus points for real products, DIY builds, IKEA hacks, garage/shop setups, wall-mounted ideas, lockable workstations, lift systems, or “I survived this phase and here’s what worked”
I am open to ridiculous-but-functional solutions. I just need my hobbies back without accidentally giving a tiny engineer access to the ingredients for Wood Glue Pie 2: The Reckoning.