Choose your craft project. The easiest starter wood craft projects for teens include Christmas ornaments and wooden signs for the front door or yard. Both projects are created in much the same way, but the Christmas ornaments are much smaller.
Cut the wood to the correct size. Cut Christmas ornaments from the plywood. Cut yard signs from the 1-by-12 board. Ornaments should be between 3 1/2 inches by 4 inches and 1/2 inch by 2 inches. Place the wood on the scroll saw and cut it to the correct size. Scroll saws allow you to create a border on the wood, so if your teen feels a straight cut is not challenging enough, he may want to create a wavy edge on his project.
Drill two small holes at the top of the project. These holes are for the wire to feed through so the sign can be hung from a hook or nail, or the ornament can be hung on the tree. Mark two points on the wood with a pencil where you wish to drill the holes. Holding the drill vertically, drill slowly through the wood until the drill bit comes through on the other side. You may need to run the drill bit up and down a few times to make sure the hole is clean.
Draw the saying or picture you want to appear on the sign or ornament. Place a piece of carbon paper on the wood, and then draw or trace a picture using a pencil to transfer the image to the wood. Paint the ornament or sign as you desire. Allow the wood project to dry overnight before continuing with step 5.
Measure out and cut a piece of wire to hang your sign or ornament. The wire should be at least double the length between the two holes you drilled in the wood. Feed one end of the wire through one of the holes, bend the end up and twist it around the wire to secure it to the wood. Repeat for the second hole with the other end of the wire. You can string a few buttons or beads on the wire before feeding it through the second hole to provide decoration if you desire.