Teaching Crochet to Young Kids

[Lucki721]

Hi! I have a question...what's a good age to teach crochet to kids? My daughter, 5, would like to learn..does anyone else know of young kids crocheting? I've seen kids knit. But usually a little older? I had her pick out some yarn and and a hook, lol! She wants to be like mom!

[seagull1993]

I don't think 5 years old is too young to begin learning to crochet, by making chains with a smooth light-colored yarn and a hook that is not too big for her hand to hold onto and manuever. Once she is comfortable with doing the chain stitches, you might try her with the slip stitch or sc, although that may take quite a while for her to reach that point at that age. The fact that she wants to learn will likely make her a good pupil. How nice for you -- my two DDs are happy to let me make all their crochet fashions, but neither one has any inclination at this point to learn how. Maybe in the future ... :-)

[callee223]

My daughter did not have the patience to learn at that age. She finally learned at 11. She is really geting good at it.

[crochetfun]

I am positive there was a nice discussion on this a while ago, but can't remember which forum...

[artemis]

I teach second grade...7 turning 8 years old.
I have a set of twins and their next door neighbor in my class. The twins' mother has taught the three girls to knit and they do cute little projects like dolly blankets and purses. But these three girls have good fine motor skills, calm personalities, and the mother is very patient.
Lots of my studnets want to crochet/knit because of seeing my work (yes, I show off my projects to my class, like the baby blanket I made for the kindergarten teacher and the heart-shaped lollipop covers for the parent volunteers) and from seeing what these three girls can do.
As a teacher, I think 8 is too young for most children. Fourth or fifth grade...age 10-12, is probably about right. With that said, there are exceptions. If your daughter is really interested and you are patient beyond belief, she would enjoy making chains, etc.
Good luck!

[Lucki721]

Thank you all for your responses! I'll let you know how it goes, we may try to work on it tonight. I know next week might be better as she is on spring break. :)

[eyenowhour]

My grandmother taught me when I was five. I stopped for a while since the stuff I made never turned out that well. I made a few really ugly things which had a lot of chains and a few double crochet stitches. Took me a long time to make nicer items. I usually got discouraged by the outcome of my projects. I would suggest teaching her how to make something small, but cute.

[Hounddog]

Your daughter could make a dishcloth very plain maybe with variegated yarn in sc. If a child really wants to learn I believe she will.

[christinascrochethaven]

I learned to crochet when I was about 4. I've never forgotten and my stitches are very good and show how long I've been crocheting. It was the best thing my mother ever did.

I don't care what "experts" say...when a child shows interest in what you are doing, start showing them how. Later on, many 8 year olds couldn't care less what you are doing. They are to busy with what's going on. If you waited to show them how to fold clothes, dress themselves and feed themself...they wouldn't learn. Crocheting isn't that hard and can be done with supervision at a young age. You obviously aren't going to expect her to whip out sweaters and such. She just wants to do what fun thing her mom is doing. Share the joy of crocheting with her.

Don't go on "experts" or even what people on the forum say. Go by what you think your daughter can do and enjoy the time spent with her.

My daughter is 3 and is already starting to learn. She uses one of my bigger hooks and has some pink yarn to chain with. When my mom or myself are crocheting, she sits beside us and practices. She doesn't do it every time, but when she wants to....I encourage it. It's really no different than teaching a child how to pick up after themselves or do chores. The younger the better...:hook

[knit-errant]

I think if she's showing an interest, it couldn't hurt to try to teach her how. My daughter is 9 and wanted to learn how; her biggest stumbling block was being upset that she couldn't make her stitches look as nice as mine... she thought she would be able to pick it up and run with it; it didn't occur to her that she would need practice to make her stitches even and such.

However, my Brownie Scout troop is 3rd grade -- 8 and 9 year olds. We did our needlework badge at the last meeting and spent most of our time sewing, but I also brought in some swatches of basic sc's and stockinette stitch done with chunky yarn and large needles/hooks. I was really surprised that one of my girls was learning to knit, and another 4 were learning to crochet!

I left the needles/hooks in the swatches, and helped each of the girls that was interested in trying to make a few stitches. Most of the girls -- even the ones that knew the basics -- had at least a little trouble manipulating the yarn and hooks.

But hey -- you're a better gauge of your daughter and what she can/can't do than anybody. I say if you want to try to teach her and she wants to learn, go for it! :)

[queen_mo]

I think 5 is as good an age as any. Although I disagree with seagull1993; I'd get a light or bright coloured chunky yarn and a large hook. Then she can see the stitches better and see what it is exactly that she's doing. Plus a beautiful bright chunky yarn is very appealing to kids. Check out Lionbrand BIG (http://cache.lionbrand.com/yarns/big.html). She could make a couple of simple squares, a long chain and assemble to make a tote bag. I'm sure she'd love it.
Also, check out this website (http://www.learntoknit.com/home.php3). It's for both knitting and crocheting, and although it's intended for teens, its got some basic instructions and patterns.
Good luck!

[Lucki721]

I didn't think about getting bigger yarn, lol! I got her some Simply Soft and an I hook, probably too small. She sits down and tries, but no chains yet, lol! It will be a slow process I'm sure. She hasn't given up yet though...so maybe this weekend we'll go get some big yarn. Thanks for the tip!

[crochetfun]

YOU MIGHT ALSO FIND THIS SITE USEFUL:



http://www.caseyscrochet.com/

[RosemaryP.]

Wow. A three year old learning? Amazing. All my daughter (also 3) wants to do is wind the yarn around things, her self, toys, cat, dog ect. I have also taught children in after school programs how to crochet. They have always asked and I have shown. If they are interested and keep asking. Go for it. Age doesn't matter. If there is a will, there is a way. Don't be dissapointed if she doesn't follow through. I remember wanting to learn and having my Mother show me. I got so frustrated that I quit and didn't pick it up again until I was an adult. Now I'm hoplessly addictied.

Rosemary

[Scherazade]

i teach kids to crochet, and now in my class i have a group of 7 children aged between 4 to 10.

the 4 yr old has joined recently and she is left handed. hounestly i had a hard time showing her how to do the chain.

after trying for a while i decided to put her on my lap, and guide her hands through the hook and yarn loops. (she was holding the yarn and hook and my hands were holding her hands) it worked wounderful. when i thought she got the concept i told her to hold the hook by herself and guide the yarn to the loop while i hold the end of the yarn with my hand. we also did it vice versa. it worked nicely.

try that ;)

[Shelleden]

I think the best age is 10 or 11 to start. 5 yr. olds usually don't have the attention span required. My GD wanted to learn when she was 6, but she would get impatient & loose interest quickly. She's now 8. A few months ago, I tried teaching her again, and she had a difficult time - she just didn't get the concept. One day she told me her friend Samantha "crochets with her fingers". I said "Huh? What do you mean?" So she took some yarn and proceeded to show me how her friend did it. Voila! A light bulb went on in her head, and she suddenly understood what she was doing. I told her it would be much easier to pull the loop through with a hook, so she tried it & just took off with it! It's like it suddenly made sense to her. Now she does a chain and single crochet as well as anybody, but she still looses interest pretty quickly. You might want to try some chunky weight yarn, not too bulky, and show her how to pull loops through with her fingers, then graduate to a hook later (a J or K). The fact that she wants to learn is a wonderful start. Just let her go at her own pace, and if she gets frustrated, tell her to wait & try again later. She'll eventually get it. I'm sure there are exceptions, but generally age 10 and above have the manual dexterity and eye - hand coordination necessary to learn crochet. If she can't quite master crochet, you could get her one of those little kits at Hobby Lobby & other craft stores that are "Learn to Crochet Stitch", or "Needlepoint", or one of the other kinds they have (they come in a box with everything they need to complete a project). Sarah, my GD, did one of the Cross Stitch ones - it was large mesh and used yarn and a yarn needle. It was very easy to do, and helped feed her desire to work with yarn. :manyheart

[Lucki721]

Thank you all for your ideas!!

Shelleden: I really like the idea about the kits in needlecraft, I'm going to both Michaels and JoAnnes today, unfortunately we don't have a Hobby Lobby here (love that store), but I will be on the lookout for those kits. :)

[Shelleden]

I hope you find them, they're really nice. They have Plastic Canvas, too. Also, Learn to Crochet, and Learn to Knit, but you wouldn't really need those. They're about $5 and so worth it! Good luck! Let us know how it works out.... One more suggestion - a spool knitter. I bought a little one for Sarah, and man oh man, she really took off on that one! Of course it only makes a snake like shape. But I told her she could make 3 and braid them together for a scarf. She made Mamaw a belt - it was so sweet! Those go soooo fast, and the child likes it because they can see results quickly. They had them on sale at Jo Ann's for $1!! :hook

[DannysMom]

I learned how to crochet at age 6. My mom started by teaching me how to make a chain on my finger before I graduated to a hook. I made yards and yards of chains! LOL. When they were long enough, mom bought me one of those plastic yard needles and we rolled up the chain and made a rug... one for barbie, one for cabbage patch kids, etc... LOL!

Should be fun for both you and your daughter.

Have fun!
-Janine

[laureni526]

You could also try a little potholder weaving kit with the square frame and the stretchy loops. I got one for my 4 year old. It comes with a crochet like hook for weaving the loops through. She was able to do this to some extent, although we did not finish a project yet. Although I consider her a mature 4 year old, with good fine motor skills, and a pretty good attention span, we didn't get very far with crochet. She would love to crochet like me, but she certainly isn't ready for that yet. I can't wait to share.

[Lucki721]

Thank you for the potholder idea, I keep forgetting those are around, I hadn't seen one around for a while. I picked my daughter up a sewing kit of sorts, figured that maybe we could start with that instead.

No luck with the crocheting yet, but we'll try again after we get some other crafty stuff going. She has a tendency to like to draw and artsy stuff, not so much sewing or as she calls my crocheting 'yarning', lol!!

[laureni526]

I found my pot holder kit at AC Moore - fairly cheaply too. I also discovered a way to get my daughter to finger crochet chains. I started the loop - quite big, and then I taught her how to reach through the loop and pick up the yarn and pull it through to make another loop. She has only done it a little, but at least it helps her understand the mechanics of chaining. She still keeps asking where her hook is. Someday we'll get there.

[squish_52]

i started learning from my gram when i was 6 or so

[SDmom]

Definately teach her how!

[Krystal16]

I have tried with my DD who is 7, but I think I overdid it with her. She couldn't get the mechanics of it, but I am pretty sure my correcting her on hand position frustrated her. Next time, it's a big hook, some rug yarn, a picture book of how to crochet, and me with a lighter touch. :D She'll get it with practice when she's ready - I was 6 when I learned to crochet, but hey - I'm "special"....:rofl

[cee]

I just want to recommend the book Kids crochet (http://www.hnabooks.com/index.php/d///1584794135/) by Kelli Ronci (http://www.kellironci.com). Wonderful and instructive photos and drawings, good projects for kids and some useful ideas for older instructors. It's particularly nice that it has several photos of young boys having fun crocheting!

[squish_52]

i know when i learned, gram showed me how to chain, with some thinner yarn, i think it was sport weight not positive though, and a G hook....i made a belt...and a necklace...and a hair thing that tied aroung my head....when mine were consistant she showed me how to single crochet and shortly after dc, squares were really hard for me to do(still are) so maybe granny squares would be good for young hands?