Crochet for children

Now, I was planning to teach Missy 9 how to finger knit and crochet soon. I found out today that her relief teacher at school has already been teaching them to finger knit today! The whole class is obsessed and my daughter tells me she is addicted. Can you see how hard she is concentrating?

Missy 9 was keen to show my lovely readers how she finger knits:

We start with a loop on our finger, much like the sort of loop you’d make to start knitting on needles with.

Wind the wool over your finger, away from you.

Pull the original loop over the wool you have wound over your finger, and off. Kids love watching the chain grow, and grow, and grow! My daughter wants to make hers grow as long as her school basketball court!

If you’ve ever wanted to teach your child to crochet, finger knitting is an excellent starting point. It’s not quite so fiddly, and because our fingers are bigger than a crochet hook, it’s easier to see what’s meant to happen.

I gave Missy 9 a crochet hook and some wool from my studio, and encouraged her to try to make the same finger knitting chain on the crochet hook.

This was a bit more tricky! But not at all impossible. The only difference really, was that I had to teach her to wrap the wool on towards herself, as opposed to away from herself. It was also tricky for her to use the hook to pull the wool through the loop, but it’s fine when they’re learning to just pull it over with their finger, the same as they do when they finger knit.

I can’t think of a nicer way to spend a cold Friday afternoon than snuggling up with my daughter, dabbling in wool. Do your kids love wool too?