To young to learn to sew?

How young is to young to learn to sew? My Nephew will be 5 in a couple of months and my Niece is 3, but they both have watched me sew and because my sewing machine has touch screen and pictures, they seem to have figured out how to make it go. They love to put a piece of cloth under the presser foot and lower the foot press the green button to make it go, press it again to make it stop and then press the scissors to cut the thread and remove the cloth.

They have the basics, they can manuver the cloth to make funny stitches. What would be the next step? and how would you teach it to a child?

(kitty taking his fabric)

The sewing lessons I teach are for those that can read and understand (youngest I’ve taught was 12), I ‘lecture’ the days lesson we do a project that uses that lesson, and then I email home a PDF so they can read further. I have tests from when I was homeschooling my daughter but I don’t send the test to my adult students (even though some might like it, I think I’ll let them know I have them).

I have a feeling I’m off to discover how to teach very young children to sew….Have any of you taught a 3 or 5 year old to sew??

~Sonia Barton

P.s. You may pin the Kitty taking fabric. (please don’t pin my nephew, yes we know he’s cute.)