Kids as young as preschool or kindergarten can learn to crochet, and grade schoolers and older are more than capable of learning finger-crochet or the basics of crocheting with a hook. We asked our crocheter friends for their top tips for crocheting with kids.

This week we’ve been focusing on crafting with kids while everyone is at home together. If you missed it, here are our previous posts in this series:

• Learn to Crochet
• Crochet with Kids!

We asked crocheters: What are your tips for crocheting with kids?

Crocheting Teaching Tips from Marie of Underground Crafter:

“If you’re a crochet lover, you know it’s a great hobby that allows you to make useful and beautiful finished objects. You may also be aware of the many other benefits crochet can provide over the course of a lifetime, including stress relief, protection from mental decline, improved motor skills, and more. The gift of crochet is one that keeps on giving, so teaching a child in your life to crochet would seem an ideal way of paying it forward.”

Her number one tip for teaching children crochet is to use the right tools (smooth yarn, an appropriate size hook, and good lighting). 

Other important tips:

• Break the process down into small steps.
• Start with finger crochet.
• Try simpler yarn crafts first (if crocheting with a hook is too challenging).
• Read the rest of her tips in this article: 10 Tips for Teaching Children to Crochet

Ashlea from Heart Hook Home gives her tips for crocheting with kids:

In her article 12 Helpful Ways to Teach Children to Crochet, Ashlea has a lot of great tips for teaching children to crochet. Our favorites:

• Have the child do as much of the work as possible.
• Use small words (instead of crochet terms).
• Give praise (and be specific). Be sure to give praise and give it often. Instead of “you’re doing a great job” try praising specific things such as “I like how you’re holding your hook”

Ashley from The Loopy Lamb talks about crafting with kids (even if they’re not ready for crochet):

Ashley is the crocheter behind The Loopy Lamb, a blog about crochet. “Crafting with kids can be used to teach things in a fun and creative way.  My son is in kindergarten and I’ve been using crafting to teach him about patterns, matching, and math. 

“Using some plastic beads, some scrap yarn and a darning needle, he makes jewellery for family members that we aren’t able to see right now because of the quarantine.  My 3 year old daughter has even been working with us and is picking things up.  We practice grouping the beads together in colours, adding and subtracting them to make sure we have what we need for our pattern and identifying repeats in a colour pattern I’ve asked them to create.”

Jessica Flowers (WeCrochet Test Crocheter) gives her #1 tip for crafting with kids:

“My #1 tip for crafting with kids is patience! Lots and lots of patience. They will need it and so will you. Little hands aren’t as coordinated as ours so they have to do things a little different to achieve the same goal. Don’t expect them to do it perfect the first time. My daughter would not hold her yarn while crocheting. It was always hanging down and she would lay it over the hook and pick the loop up to slip over and off. A year later and she’s now holding the yarn and using the hook to pull the yarn through.”

Katy from KTandtheSquid’s top tip for success when crafting with kids:

“When it comes to crafting with kids have no expectations except there will be a mess. Crafting with my kids used to give me such anxiety because I knew it would end in a mess or them not exactly doing what I thought they would. But the less I stress about that stuff the more fun it is, for everyone. Plus, it teaches them to clean up after themselves when its all done.”

Related: See KTandtheSquid’s Kid Crochet Patterns.

Have you tried crocheting with your kids? Do you have any tips? Leave them in the comments!