With having little girls in my house again I am looking for ideas to help them learn the basics of sewing and easy projects that will encourage them to keep their hands busy.
Cherish, who is 8, is working on a printed plastic canvas project that we picked up at Hobby Lobby. Just learning the simple basics of how to hold a needle and which direction to stitch in has been a challenge, but plastic canvas 
She will work on it for about 10 minutes, get frustrated and then have to put it down. I’m OK with that, I want her to enjoy it. The key right now is mechanics.
But the best part of doing this is that it forces time to be still with us, even when I may not want to. I have to sit with her and help her untangle her knots, or show her AGAIN what direction to go in. It gives me a perfect opportunity to teach her patience and the importance of details and diligence. I am learning just as much as she is, not in the skill of sewing but rather in patience and diligence in my parenting, in nurturing our relationship.
I even started my little Peach on these.
I used Styrofoam trays and poked holes in them.
Then I taped the yarn to the foam to be used as a knot.
We use a single thread so they can be used over and over again…
and un-knoted easily.
She thinks she is making something great! She is learning the same things, just bigger and slower. If she messes up the trays it’s no big deal, I’ll just make more. 
These are also great to keep her busy while we do school work. I even numbered her holes so we count as we go.
Boys like them too, but sometimes they find other things to do with the string!
Here are some other easy beginner projects:
Fiber art is anything that includes stitching, weaving, quilting, sewing, rug making, crocheting, knitting, spinning, etc…
Each Monday we can share ideas, patterns, finished projects and ask questions about fiber arts in the comment section.
You can also link up to your blog post or photo account that is related to fiber arts, I just ask that you link back to the most current Fiber Arts Monday post. Just leave your post link in the comment section and tell us what it is.
Kathy
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Sarah says:
My 7yo daughter really likes that plastic canvas sewing kits. She has done a few of them now. She is also learning how to knit. She can only do the basic stitch but she is catching on quickly!
Gayle Ferguson says:
Kathy, it is harder to find things to hand sew, but I found that a simple bean bag was fun for my granddaughter, and we made pin cushions that looked like little hats. I googled it and found some pictures which we followed and she still has her pin cushion.Here is a site that I found that you might enjoy, the flame fleece blanket might make your boy happy.And as you scroll down, she has fleece hats, stuffed bear, etc.
http://heartsandtrees.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.html
here is a tutorial for the pincushion:http://uptherainbowcreek.blogspot.com/search/label/hat%20pincushion
Kathy says:
Thank you for the suggestions!
Shirley says:
Hi~
Some of our first projects were tied to a lesson about the early colonists. We talked about how they make good use of every bit of their time and use (and re-use!) whatever materials they had on hand… there were no fabric stores or art stores! We learned that because of their strong religious beliefs, they also knew that they had to be good stewards of what they did have. And so on.
So as a first project, we each did a sampler. We learned how the girls in particular would use a sampler to learn not only various stitches (which were taught by a mother, sister, friend, or neighbor … again, no internet or book store to teach them!)… but also to teach and reinforce what they were learning in school.
So as example, my [then] 8-year old was in 1st grade.. Her first project was to draw something she was learning on paper. Since she was learning cursive and addition, she drew her favorite letters and also 1+1=2. I then let her also do the same design in chalk and again using tempera paint. Then, I let her draw the same design – encouraging her to draw it lightly – in pencil on a piece of scrap fabric (which she picked out). Then, we used fabric paint to color it. Then, again she drew it on fabric and she learned the basic embroidery outline (backstitch) to stitch it. Because she had done the design on many mediums, she not only learned the difference in their feel & look, she “owned” the design and was much more open to wanting to learn the stitching (not to say she did not show the same frustration you just described with Peaches!).
My [then] 3rd grade daughter and even my [then] 9th grade son did similar ‘samplers’. From there we moved on to piecing of patchwork, mending of tears, replacing buttons, and so on, in each case linking it to back to the study theme. So some projects were ‘fun’ and some were ‘keepin it real’ as you say.
Kathy says:
Thank you for the GREAT ideas!
Amy says:
My 16 year old daughter is teaching my 6- and 8-year old daughters how to make plastic canvas coasters. It is teaching them all patience! After I finish building the model boat with my son, I will be teaching my 8-year old daughter how to use the sewing machine. I think she will make herself a simple skirt. My oldest was 8 when she learned to sew, and she made a dress for her baby sister! No more babies to make clothes for though…..
Kathy says:
Amy, that is wonderful!
Dana S. says:
I’ve bought a few kits at sewingkits4kids.com In fact, a photo of Brandie working on a kit was on their website at one time. The girls LOVED the projects, but ranking up there just as high was getting something in the mail!
Dana S. says:
I also have “Stitches and Pins” from Bunkhouse Sewing. http://www.bunkhousesewing.com/sewing-books
I’m not a teacher at heart, so I need help with this. I’m planning on using this book this fall when we start back at “formal lessons”. I’ve used one of their church banner patterns and it was good, too.