DIY Hand Sewing FOR KIDS!!

School holidays can be painful once your pre-planned activities have run out, so this might be fun to try 😊

I have 2 daughters, 5 and 3 and they are ALWAYS keen to try some sewing. I usually try and put them off because sewing is MY thing, plus expensive machines, needles the possibility of blood….
I let them try making sleeping masks once, a couple of months back and it was a bit of a painful experience (for me, the kids loved it!!), so instead I’ve introduced them to my version of

DIY Hand Sewing FOR KIDS!!
(Disclaimer, there’s probably a technical term for this but I’m a bit clueless, haha)

What you’ll need:

• Keen kids
• As many bundles of coloured yarn that you can be conned into buying. I bought cheap acrylic yarn 😊
• Wool needles, either plastic (we found they go a bit bendy) or metal (use blunt tips for younger children)
• Scissors
• Either paper plates or printed templates (link at bottom of the post)
• An awl for punching the holes

awl, wool needles, acrylic yarn, printed templates

Either draw a design on paper, cardboard or paper plate, or print off some templates (see bottom of the post for free downloadable templates).

Use an awl or other pointy object to poke regular holes in your chosen design

Let the kids choose their yarn colour, then thread the needle and tie a knot in one end.

Starting from the back of their page, have them push/pull the needle through to the front of the page and back down through the next hole.

 

Simple, right?!

Change colours as often as required, fill in the design as much as they would like, or have them colour inside the stitching.

My 5 year old was more than happy to finish a design in one sitting, while my 3 year old is still working on her first design after a few days, it depends on their attention span and how excited they find the project.

Enjoy!!

printable star template

printable snail template

printable rainbow template

printable house template