Sewing for kids

Actually, I never would have gotten the idea to give my daughter needle and thread. I thought that must be way too hard for a 4year old. But then I read this post on Sew, Mama, Sew! and thought, "Maybe I'm wrong." (You really should check out that post if you have kids. I think the ideas are just adorable.) So I searched for an old embroidery hoop, some VERY old (and may I say rather ugly) embroidery fabric, a needle (which is not sharp) and thread. When I asked my daughter whether she wanted to sew she was instantly very keen to try. I was not sure how it would work out. I had made her lacing cards before but she lost interest rather quickly. So I gave her the hoop with the fabric and she started stitching away. Oh, first she inquired - several times actually - whether the needle really was not sharp cause obviously she was very afraid to hurt herself. And once she started I was amazed what a good job she did. I have not seen her work that concentrated on something in quite some time. Lately it actually has been really hard to come up with projects to do with her cause she either was not interested in trying right from the beginning or shortly after we started a project. She would loose interest so quickly - I really had to swallow hard and try not to get frustrated some times. But with this ... she was just sitting there for a really long time and stitching! After dinner she requested to sew some more ... It was really so much fun to watch her! And it was very nice sitting together on the sofa - she stitching away while I was knitting! Really cool!
I am thinking of getting some prettier fabric for her to stitch on ... so we can make something out of it and "save" it. Maybe I even get her to work with a "real" (meaning sharp) needle - which would make the fabric choice a bit easier ... And I definitely love the idea to make festive banners in the post by Sew, Mama, Sew! Maybe we'll try this next.