handwork for 4 year olds - Page 2

[teamsalem]

Originally Posted by TulsiLeaf

Smoosh was sewing last night!
We made some rice satchels last night out of an old navy felted scarf. I started the sewing on for her to show her and she did the whole thing sitting in my lap. She was so proud! She was beaming and showed her Papi, who was very impressed with what she learned.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tulsileaf/4325849000/

I did it with a darning needle and some doubled lorna's sock yarn. worked out perfectly. She could grasp the needle and the yarn well and she could see her stitches with the purple yarn.

I am going to cut out pieces of felted wool now and let her practice different things. Let her sew her own design.

wow, she picked it up really fast, huh? That is wonderful!

[Deborah]

That is wonderful!

How satisfying for both of you.

[ourdayourjourney]

you could also make wreaths and heart-shaped wreaths with some wire and cut-up squares of recycled sweaters.

[honeybunmom]

My 4 yo dd stitched together a heart last night from a felted red sweater! She is so proud of it. On a blog, I believe, I saw where the mama dotted the felt to show her lo where to put her needle. I did this and dd did great! She stuffed it with wool and I sewed it shut for her. She's taking it with her today to show Teacher. She kept saying, "This is not a toy, right?" since the children are asked not to bring in toys from home. Although still something from home, I wanted to let her share her accomplishment!

[E.V. Lowi]

Honeybunmom, your story takes me back!

[racheleuphoria]

When my DD was four, I gave her burlap on embroidery hoops and embroidery floss to play with. She used a very blunt needle and made designs of her choosing, learning how to judge distance and the up/down stitch (not around) required by this set up. She enjoyed it. Now my almost 3 DS is loving it.

My DD is now 5. For her birthday she got "My First Sewing Book" by Winky Cherry. It has been incredibly influential in her sewing. Before we were just stumbling along, but she totally learned how to thread her own needle (a normal one), use a sharp needle, measure and cut thread, tie nots, use "lock stitches" when she's done sewing, etc. The book is very pictoral and filled with rhymes. Very upbeat. Of course, buying a book is not necessary for this type of learning, but it really, really, really made it easier on both of us. We might spend 15 minutes just working on preliminary steps, and she wasn't frustrated by the slow pace because she had worked through several pages of the book (ie she realized each step was important). Anyways, now she is sewing stuffed animals and making heart shaped herbal sachets for Valentines Day. Fun!

[sweetpeppers]

Originally Posted by E.V. Lowi

Oh yes, felted sweaters- perfect!

Another activity my dd enjoyed at age 4 was button play. She love sorting, stringing the buttons and sewing buttons on to the burlap.

haha, I used to LOVE playing with my mom's buttons. She had scores of them for some reason.