Easily Learn How to Teach Crochet for Kids | A Simple Tutorial

How To Easily Teach Kids To Crochet

Teaching crochet to kids is fun and with a few simple tools, even a novice adult can enjoy learning crocheting for fun and build a child’s hand-eye coordination in the process.

Crochet is ideal to teach kids because as plenty of tee shirts proclaim, crochet is therapy! It provides a meditative activity great for travel, indoor time, and for building fine motor skills.

If you need a quick refresher, here’s an easy crochet YouTube video tutorial that will teach you the basics of beginner crochet in about 5 minutes! 

Trust me – this is seriously the best way to teach kids crochet or to learn how to crochet yourself.

Simple Video Tutorial for Teaching Kids Beginner Crochet

Credit for this video goes to Jenny from The Domestic Wildflower. Jenny is an expert on all things homesteading, canning, and crafting.

Yarn for Teaching Kids to Crochet

Lion Brand Yarn 752-100 Fettuccini Yarn Assorted Cones, Random Colors

• Strong enough for bags and bowls, but it's comfortable enough for jewelry and accessories.
• 100-percent undetermined fibers - textile by-products; Hand wash and lay flat to dry.
• Because the material is repurposed, every colorway is limited edition.
• Colors are chosen at random for each order.
• Each cone is approximately 4 by 4 by 6 inches; Weight 11oz/312g (55yd/50m).

Try It Now!

There are so many different colors and styles of yarns out there, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed. But don’t panic! I’m here to help.

Stay away from the fluffy, fuzzy, eyelash, or otherwise novelty yarns and opt for a smooth, non-luxury option.

The classic Red Heart acrylic available in nearly every thrift store, auntie’s closet, big box and craft store is a fine choice.

Caron’s Simply Soft is a great option, so and soft smooth that my 7-year-old opted to use a pink skein of it to make a “softie” out of it; a 9×9 inch miniature comfort blanket.

Save an artisanal, handspun skein for more experienced hands; you want the first experience into beginner crochet to be guilt-free, easy, and colorful. 

The bigger then yarn, the easier it is and more expensive it typically it is. This makes sense because you’re paying for more fiber and it is so much easier to see the stitches you’re creating and to see a potential error and solve it immediately.

The BEST giant yarn that I’ve used is felted (read: won’t pill), super strong, and works up so quickly the sense of satisfaction for a child (or anyone for that matter) is immediate. This yarn is sold by Love Fest Fibers and is called Tough Love.

Indeed, a ball is more expensive than a skein of Red Heart, but you can make a basket big enough to hold a basketball with NO HOOK (which can definitely lower the intimidation of crochet) in under two hours. 

A yarn that’s a nice in-between to the wonderful Tough Love and the craft store standby Red Heart is Lion Brand Fettuccini. It’s a tee-shirt yarn – made presumably from would-be-waste from knit manufacture and it’s forgiving, soft, and large but not giant.

It’s ideal for larger items, and it’s easily washable making it extra kid-friendly. 

Tools for Teaching Kids to Crochet

I’ve found great success in teaching both my 7-year-old daughter and the teenagers I taught in 7-12 grades in public school (my English students who needed an activity to focus their mind and keep their hands to themselves) with a crochet hook that is one or two sizes larger recommended for the yarn at hand.

A larger hook size results in easier-to-see loops and helps ward off the too-tight fabric that results from the tense new crocheter. The result is also a looser fabric that allows for a newbie to see their mistakes and failures clearly. 

1. Hook 1-2 sizes larger than suggested for the yarn for learning to chain and making simple squares/scarves where a pattern isn’t being followed.
2. I’ve found no difference between metal or bamboo hooks. 

You can get various sizes of hooks on Amazon here.

Basic Stitches for Teaching Children to Crochet

Note – These basic stitches are modeled in the video tutorial near the beginning of this article – scroll up to see that basic crochet video.

Slip Knot– I often start out by doing the slip knot for the child so they can get to the fun part of chaining. You can, of course, show them a slip knot and let them do it themselves. This allows your child to go at their own pace.

Chain– A child crafter should practice the chain stitch over and over until every friend and family member has a friendship bracelet made of the chains. If the crochet hook proves to be too difficult (read: not fun) to manage, chain with the fingers (also called finger crochet).  This is a simple first stitch.

Single Crochet- I will:

1. Model
2. Teach the little saying below
3. Let them try
4. Repeat.

Stick through the loop*

Wrap, pull through

Wrap, pull through 2

* [either in the chain or the top of the stitch on which you’re working]

I describe the “wrap” as being just like how the sun comes up from behind the mountains, always wrapping up from behind the hook. 

Another helpful visual for before you begin or during is the idea of stitches being like bricks, and the crocheter is laying bricks on top of the row they just created.

Help the learner visualize that they are putting a stitch right on top of the one they built a few minutes before, the same way bricks are set atop one another. Legos or blocks make for a perfect visual aide in this instance. 

First Project Crochet Patterns for Teaching Kids to Crochet

I taught my daughter to count and maintain (if she has 20 chains, then she needs 20 stitches built on top of them) and I haven’t begun to teach her to read a pattern.

I know that in young learners, the aim is to keep fun and sense of accomplishment to a high and learning to read a pattern while they are still mastering stitches would be a mistake. 

When teaching kids to crochet, I would start with this list of projects, veering off where their interest takes them.

If they want to make a dozen rectangles, I say let them!  Or your child can try one of these simple project ideas.

First Project Ideas for a First Time Child Crocheter

1. Chain stitch Friendship bracelets
2. Chain stitch collars for the dog or cat
3. Chain stitch various tools for superheroes (my son is a Batman lover and he made his Batman chains to tie up bad guys)
4. Single crochet softies/miniature blankets 
5. Single crochet a rectangle to be folded in half and the edges sewn or slip stitched shut into a DIY bag
6. Single crochet a collection of potholders or dishcloths
7. Single crochet a scarf for a doll or pet (smaller than a person’s scarf would be)
8. Single crochet a kid or adult scarf
9. Single crochet a small DIY baby blanket
10. Grab this simple crochet star pattern

What will your child learn to crochet first? I’d love to hear about your child’s first crochet project! And remember, there are great courses that teaches kids even more about crochet. If your kids are serious about learning to crochet, this is the course for you.

If your child has already learned how to crochet, please post a picture of your finished project in the comments! That way, other parents wanting to teach kids how to crochet can get some more inspiration!