Tips for Teaching Children to Crochet

My mother taught me to crochet when I was 5 years old.  I was in my 20’s when I picked up a hook again, but it didn’t take me long to become hooked (pun intended).  Naturally, now that I have 5 daughters of my own, my desire is to have them learn to crochet.  I tried to teach them last year but it just wasn’t ‘clicking’.  One of them threw in the towel rather quickly, while the other drudged on, not getting to far.  I decided if I was going to see her stick it out I needed to take some action.  This is the scene I found today….. My 8 year old has decided to give it one more shot (with some nudging from my 7 year old who is “teaching” her).  I was really excited!

Sometimes they just need it done a little different.  I encourage you to try again if it doesn’t seem to be working.  Here are some tips that helped my daughters tremendously. 

  • Try a bigger hook – even if it’s bigger than what is recommended for the yarn.  My daughter has low vision and couldn’t see the stitches (major problem when you’re crocheting).  So I gave her my “N” hook to use with worsted weight yarn. 
  • Try a lighter color yarn – Some people have a harder time seeing the stitches with a darker color.  We switched her from purple (her favorite) to pink.  These two things alone made a huge difference.
  • Do the chain row for them – I may get some who disagree with this, but getting them going was the hardest part.  My girls could not get their chain stitches loose enough, or the same size, etc.  I did the beginning chain and the first row for them.  It gave them enough of a boost to get them excited.

If you’re looking for some help on how to teach a left-handed child, check out my 3 Tips for Teaching Left-handed Crocheters.

Happy Crocheting!



5 thoughts on “Tips for Teaching Children to Crochet”

  • >My mom did the same for me with knitting. It took a while before I could cast on, but with her help I could get started. I learned both crochet and knitting pretty young. I watch both. My grandmom and mom do them when and wanted to try. I remember starting with Granny Squares. :)

    • I started with granny squares too. I think the reason why it worked for me was because my teacher did the centers. Then I did one round and she finished and used the squares. I felt like my rows were good enough from the beginning and if I miscounted, ripping out part of a row and correcting it was doable.

  • Thanks for the great info. Trying to teach my eight year old step-daughter and I think these tips will be very helpful.

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