Passing on the passion

Today I sat down to start crafting the cherry and orange popsicles (post on those to come!) and my daughter sat next to me and asked if she could watch. She's never shown that much interest in my felt projects, she prefers to just play with the finished product. After a few minutes of avidly watching me stitch, she asked if she could try.

Now, my first instinct was to say, "No, I'm sorry hunny, needles are too sharp." And then I realized, that was silly. If she's sitting right next to me, what's the worst that can happen? She might prick her finger, which is hardly the end of the world. I'm not condoning 4 year old children running rampant with sharp objects. Obviously, use your best judgment here. Don't let your child play with needles when you're not around. (Duh.)  But in a controlled, supervised environment, learning to stitch can be great for gaining dexterity in little fingers, and is a skill she can use for her entire life. Not to mention the bonding between mommy and munchkin as we sit and sew together. :)

Side note - our music of choice while sewing is opera. I LOVE that my 4 year old daughter loves opera. Her favourite seems to be Carmen...she always bounces in her seat and gets a big grin on her face when the overture comes on.

In her first attempt, I gave her a bit of green thread and a scrap of orange felt, which ended up covered in stitches and bunched in a ball. She said it looked like a pumpkin, and it sort of did. And to be fair, I really didn't give her any instruction, she just copied my movements. The second attempt, I gave her two scraps of red felt and some blue thread and said, "This time, try to stitch in a straight line." I did two simple running stitches to show her what I meant, and let her give it a try. This was the result. 

Now, I'm pretty pleased at that! And surprised - I honestly didn't think she would do nearly so well. At that point, she was ready to move on to her next project.

"Mommy, I want to make a pillow for Leslie!" (Leslie is a tiny pink leopard plushy, that I think came from a Happy Meal a few years ago...No idea where she she got the name.)  So, I got a small piece of pink felt for her, folded it in half, and told her to stitch around the edge. That's pretty much all I said to her, and this is what she came up with.

We stuffed it with a cotton ball

It was so great to watch her sewing. Such concentration...towards the end she was very aware of where the needle was coming through on the other side, and if she didn't like it, she'd pull it out and change the placement.

I'm so excited that my daughter has shown interest in crafting with me. It's a wonderful to spend the time together, and to see her learning and growing.