Henry Ford for Kids: His Life and Ideas, with 21 Activities

By Ronald A. Reis

Henry Ford for Kids provides an in-depth portrait of the man who "put America on wheels." You'll learn about Ford's childhood on a Michigan farm, where the budding engineer loved to take apart and reassamble everything from toys to watches to machinery; about his revolutionary labor ideas, including paying higher wages and hiring women and the disabled at a time when many companies would not; about his fervent opposition to war and the lasting impact of his widespread philanthropy. But you'll also learn that this automotive giant was a flawed individual whose controversial views and heavy-handed management style alienated many, yet whose engineering genius and impact on the world are undeniable.

Packed with historic photos and illuminating sidebars, the book brings the turn of the 20th century to life. Twenty-one hands-on activities encourage young innovators to apply engineering and production ideas and learn more about the era. Kids will build a lemon-powered battery; form an assembly line; learn to "read" simple industrial drawings; design an automobile dashboard; learn to dance the waltz; and much more.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chicago Review Press
• Release date: Jan 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9781613730935

Book preview

(P.O.995)

1

FARM BOY MECHANIC

Henry Ford was born to William and Mary Ford on July 30, 1863, in Dearborn, Michigan, a rural farm town eight miles west of Detroit. The oldest of six children, Henry claimed to the day he died that the monotony of farming was his inspiration for creating all things mechanical. I have followed many a weary mile behind a plow and I know all the drudgery of it, Ford wrote. What a waste … when in the same time a tractor could do six times as much work.

Henry’s father, William, fled Ireland at the age of 21, during the great potato famine of 1847. William’s parents, two brothers, and four sisters made the dangerous Atlantic voyage to the United States along with him. Though William was called a boy in the Irish tradition (because his father was still alive), he was very much a man. Described as of medium height, with a muscular strength, gray eyes, and a serious demeanor, William arrived in America already a skilled carpenter. He would put his talents to good use as a farmer.

Ford Bird Hotels

HENRY FORD’S LOVE OF BIRDS stayed with him all his life. As he gained wealth, Ford found himself in a position to indulge his interest in feathery creatures. At his home, called Fair Lane, Henry Ford set up a sanctuary for birds unlike anything in North America. It became the envy of every ornithologist (one who studies birds) the world over.

With close to 1,500 acres devoted to providing a home to 200 bird species, Ford hired an entire ground crew to take care of them. The nature lover had 200 multistory bird hotels placed throughout his estate. One such hotel was said to have 500 rooms. In addition to the hotels, there were dozens of birdbaths. Feeding stations were everywhere.

Henry and Clara liked nothing better than to sit on their sunporch at the rear of their house and, with binoculars in hand, watch the birds.

Once, the ground crew put white netting over two cherry trees near the house. They wanted to protect the fruit for use in cooking and preserving. When Henry Ford went to work in the morning, he noticed a couple of robins entangled in the webbing. He tore the netting off. Later he scolded the men who had put it there, saying, Don’t put that back no matter who wants it back on there. There’s plenty of cherries for the birds and us, too.

Mary, Henry’s mother, met William in Dearborn, where the Fords had settled. Though William was 14 years older than Mary, he was willing to wait until the brown-haired, dark-eyed girl graduated from high school before asking her to marry him. Their wedding took place in Detroit, on April 25, 1861.

The Fords had six children, four boys and two girls, yet none gave them the pride of their firstborn—Henry.

As a toddler, Henry took to the Fords’ prosperous Dearborn farm as any curious child would. The land was fertile, with evergreen shrubs, an orchard, and well-cultivated fields of wheat, corn, and hay. Patches of timber were filled with wild creatures. Henry became familiar with the small native animals among the trees: skunks, raccoons, foxes, minks, muskrats, and rabbits. Henry Ford’s earliest recollections were of the forest at the back of the farm.

The first thing I remember in my life, Ford wrote decades later, is my father taking my brother and myself to see a bird’s nest under a big oak….John was so young that he could not walk. Father carried him. I being two years older could run along with him…. I remember the nest with four eggs and also the bird and hearing it sing.

Memories such as this one gave young Henry a great love of nature that would last a lifetime. Those memories were mingled with his fondness and admiration for his father. Henry recalled his dad turning the plow aside to spare a bird’s nest.

In his early years, Henry saw his father as a firm, caring man. He viewed his mother as his moral teacher. You must earn the right to play, Mary told her eldest son. The best fun follows a duty done.

ACTIVITY

BUILD A BIRD FEEDER

HENRY FORD’S LOVE OF BIRDS led him to create a huge bird sanctuary, with dozens of bird feeders scattered about. In this activity, you build a simple bird feeder using a cup and saucer.

You’ll Need

Bird field guide or access to the Internet

Cup (with handle) and saucer (preferably glass or ceramic)

Epoxy glue (available at craft, hardware, or home supply stores)

Set of acrylic paints and brush (optional)

String (or twine), 10 to 12 feet (3 to 3.6 meters) long

Birdseed

Embellishments, such as stickers, beads, feathers, tiny trinkets, etc.

1. Find out what types of wild birds populate your area, so you will be able to identify the birds that use your feeder. Search the Internet or refer to a good field guide to local birds.

2. Glue your cup and saucer together, as shown. Be sure to place the cup in the center of the saucer, with the handle up. Follow instructions supplied with your glue. You may have to leave the glue to cure (finish drying) overnight.

3. Decorate your bird feeder. You might place bird stickers or glue on beads or feathers. Or you can paint flowers, birds, or various scenes of nature on the cup or saucer. If you are using paints, be sure to give the paint plenty of time to dry.

4. Tie a string (or piece of twine) around the handle of your bird feeder. Make sure the bird feeder hangs so that the saucer is parallel with the ground. If the string seems to slide up the handle, use a piece of tape to hold it where you want it.

5. Scatter birdseed in the cup, allowing it to spill out onto the saucer.

6. Hang your bird feeder from a tree branch that you can see easily. Choose a shady spot where you have seen birds spending time.

Be patient, it may take some time for birds to find your bird feeder and feel comfortable eating from it. There are about 800 species of birds in North America. You are sure to attract one or more.

Such lectures had a strong impact on Henry. He carried them with him for the rest of his life. When people later asked Henry Ford what he remembered of his mother, he simply quoted her. Life will give you many unpleasant tasks to do, and your duty will be hard and disagreeable and painful to you at times, but you must do it. You may have pity on others, but you must not pity yourself.

Henry Ford later said of his mother, giving her the highest compliment, She was that rarest type, one who so loved her children that she did not care whether they loved her. What I mean by this is that she would do whatever she considered necessary for our welfare even if she thereby lost our good will.

TRAGEDY STRIKES

GROWING UP, Henry’s relationship with his brothers and sisters was playful and teasing. However, as Henry grew older and began to tinker, the siblings got nervous. When toys arrived for birthdays and Christmas, someone would always shout: Don’t let Henry see them! He’ll take them apart! The brothers and sisters should not have worried. While many kids could disassemble such toys, Henry had also learned to put them back together. For Henry Ford, tools were his toys and always would be.

At seven years of age (in 1871), Henry headed off to a one-room schoolhouse about two miles from his home. He proved to be a bright but unexceptional student.

A typical 19th-century midwestern farm. Henry Ford hated the drudgery of farming, spending long days behind a horse-drawn plow.

Library of Congress LC-DIG-fsa-8d35082 (photographer: Fenno Jacobs)

It was in school that Henry developed his lifelong love of playing tricks on people. According to one account, Henry once bored two small holes in the bottom of another student’s seat. In one hole he hid a needle with the point up, and then ran a connecting string down through the other hole and under the bench to his seat. During a dead space in the school day, he yanked on the string, and the resulting howls brought loud laughter from his classmates.

On Henry’s 13th birthday he was given a watch as a present. The teenager sat down, took the timepiece apart, and reassembled it. In no time Henry, the farm boy mechanic, learned to repair watches.

Fixing watches was for Henry the beginning of his love of mechanical devices. Machines are to a mechanic what books are to a writer, he later said. He gets ideas from them and if he has any brains he will apply them.

Though the Ford farm was doing well, bringing in a good yearly income, plenty of work was required to make that a reality. According to one of the Fords’ neighbors, Farmers set off for their fields and went to work from daylight to dark, and then went home and did their chores. All the Ford children were expected to do their share, too.

In the spring of 1876, the Fords prepared to welcome another member into the family. Mary Ford was pregnant again, and by all indications her eighth child would be delivered with little trouble. Her first infant had been stillborn (born dead) in 1861. But after that, Mary had a run of successful deliveries, with Henry (1863), John (1865),

Margaret (1867), Jane (1869), William Junior (1871), and Robert (1873). As was the custom at the time, Mrs. Ford would be giving birth at home.

This time, unexplainably, something went terribly wrong. The baby was lost. Twelve days later, on March 29, Mary died. She was just 37 years old.

Henry Ford was emotionally devastated. His world was turned upside down. I thought a great wrong had been done to me when my mother was taken, Henry later declared. The house was like a watch without a mainspring.

DETROIT DREAMING

AT THE age of 17, Henry Ford had had enough of farm life. He was now through with school and restless to move on. Henry’s experiences so far with things mechanical had whetted his appetite for more. Deep down inside, he felt he was meant to be a mechanic. To prove it, if to no one else but himself, young Henry would have to go to Detroit, to apprentice at a machine shop. At five feet eight inches tall, with a tough, wiry strength, Henry felt he was ready for the challenge.

On December 1, 1879, Henry Ford took off for Detroit, walking eight miles to the city. It took him half a day.

Henry didn’t tell anyone he was leaving. His family discovered his absence only after Henry was gone. Though he never spoke of running away, the family knew he was about to make the move.

Some believe that William Ford was opposed to Henry going to Detroit. William, they said, felt Henry’s future was in farming. Yet, according to Henry’s sister Margaret, their father was OK with young Henry going. My father was sympathetic and understanding of Henry’s desire to supplement his mechanical training and education with actually working in a shop. Maybe William felt working in a hot, dirty machine shop would cure Henry of a desire to do so, and he would then head back home to a life on the farm.

The Detroit that Henry Ford arrived at in 1879 was still a small city. The 1880 census shows only 116,340 people. But there was a bustle to the place, with industrial activity everywhere, particularly along the Detroit River. Altogether, there were nearly 1,000 mechanical and manufacturing establishments. Upon arrival in the city, Henry rented