I purchased some small reading Ottomans from Wal-Mart last year and they were broken during the first month that I had them. One of my parents offered to take them home to try to repair them. The repair never happened, but what did was so much better. The couple came into our classroom to help us make our own. The kids had a blast and learned so much from the experience. Students from other classes peeked into our room and said, "You have woodshop in your class? Lucky!" Here are a few of the pictures of the work in progress along with the final products.
Here is the link to the directions.