My little project

[Knuckledragger]

So, I've never been any kind of woodworker. Never very mechanical at all, really. But I decided to take on a little project for my son, who is almost 2 1/2 years old.
I'm going to make a toddler-sized bed for him, in the shape of a fire truck. It will be a basic wood frame, with plywood sides painted and dressed up to look like one of our local fire trucks.

Here's a picture of the mattress frame so far:



This will be held up on some 2x4 legs about 5 1/2 inches off the floor. I'll cut and paint some finished plywood and attach it to the front, sides, and back so it looks like a truck. Hopefully it will look something like this:



The above picture was taken from a bed plan that I could have bought on the web, but I wanted to test myself and do it without using someone else's plan. I'm very comfortable with trial and error, so I don't mind doing things over and over again until I learn how to do them right.
Being a newcomer to this kind of thing, I'd welcome any suggestions anyone might have. I only have a few tools, including a pretty nice compound miter saw (which I don't anticipate using much for this project), but I guess that I'll need to get some more. Not sure what I'd need for cutting the plywood to the shape I want. Jigsaw maybe? Any suggestions?

[Paul.nz]

I have made my own tv cabinet,stereo cabinet and a formula one bed for a toddler.I have made about 20 sub boxes and a two sub coffee table (yes i had subs in my coffee table).I use two cordless drills when i make things.One to predrill the holes to stop the wood from splitting and one to put in the screws.Since you will be painting it i would drill the hole through and use a larger drill to drill down approx 1mm only so the screws will be lower than the wood face and filler could hide the screws for a nicer finish.
A router is great for rounding the edges and cutting ridges for shape etc.You will need a jigsaw to cut the custom wood.20 mm customwood is strong but also heavy.The base has to be strong but the most important thing really is no sharp edges and no where where the kiddy can bang his head.

[Knuckledragger]

I've never used a router before, should be interesting. Great idea about enlarging and filling the screw holes, thanks!

[BALBOMB]

Where will the water hose Go? in case he is trying to sleep in and you want him awake. He might need to give the Knuck a spray