Repairing your kid's furniture can be a rewarding task. Here is what you would do to repair a loose leg/rail joint in your kid's furniture. Underneath a padded removable seat or table top, there is a rail frame. The legs are located in the corners of this frame. The rails have a tenon (tab) and the leg has a mortise (hole). In some designs the leg is mounted inside the frame and secured by screws or a special bracket.
The loose joint is often due to the stress applied to the leg in usage and it needs to be re-glued before it breaks. To re-glue the joint it is best to disassemble the leg and rail. Once apart you can clean the old glue from both pieces.
You may find that the tenon is slightly too small and doesn't fit. This can be remedied by building up the tenon with a shim. A tapered shim may work but probably a piece of flat stock would work better. You can make a flat shim with your table saw.
Another approach would be to carefully saw a slot into the tenon and then insert a wedge to expand it to the proper size. Drilling a small hole as shown in the drawing at the top of the slot will reduce the chance of splitting.
Once done it would be best to glue the wedge/shim in place and let cure. At that time you can test fit the tenon to be sure that it is tight. Apply white glue evenly to all surfaces of both the mortise and tenon and assemble. Be sure that the tenon is fully into the mortise and that the alignment is correct. Clamp and wipe away the excess glue. Stand the chair or table on a level floor and put a heavy tool box on it so that all four legs will be square with the floor as the glue drys. Touch up the finish if necessary.
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