Try it with the Kids: Finger Knitting

With summer coming on fast, parents who read this may have kids home from school more soon, or teachers who have a class in the summer may be looking for more crafty things to do with some of their time over the summer. I’m planning to share some general craft ideas and skills you can learn along with the kids if you don’t already know them so you can all make together this year.

First up: finger knitting. Kids love finger knitting (especially in late elementary school, but I think teens would love this too as a throwback) and it’s super easy to learn.

The only supply you need is yarn. I have a tutorial over at Our Daily Craft you can try, which shows you how to make a chunky bracelet, or check out this video from Red Ted Art that shows you how to make a finger knitting butterfly.

What else can you make with finger knitting? There are actually whole books on the topic, but here are some other ideas to get you started.

A finger knit snake is a classic, and this pattern from Vickie Howell (who also wrote the book mentioned above) is fun and easy.

Red Ted Art also has a cute bunny made with finger knitting. Imagine Childhood has a darling little finger knit basket.

Kids might enjoy making this finger knit garland from Sisters What to decorate their rooms. Or for a bigger project they can make a rug like this one from Meet Me at Mikes.

This finger knit ear warmer from Simply Maggie could be made into a headband by just working a single strip of knitting. You can also finger knit a hat with these instructions from Bean Creative (shared at Red Ted Art).

Or you can just make a long strand and turn it into a necklace, or sew strips together into a scarf. Hello Glow has a single strand infinity scarf project. Once you get kids started they are sure to think up their own ways to use the strips of finger knitting, too.

Do you know how to finger knit? I’d love to know what you or your kids do with your knitting!

I did a post earlier this year with activities and ideas for teaching the alphabet, but a lot or learning letters and recognizing them just has to do with seeing them and working with them a lot.

That means coloring, tracing, identifying things that start with different letters and more.

One way to reinforce the letters is through little activity books like these cute printable alphabet books from Life Over Cs.

These are available for free when you subscribe to her newsletter, and I’d say that’s well worth it if you have a little one (or a group of little ones!) working on the alphabet and letter recognition.

Each mini book includes a collection of things that start with that letter to color, color and read with words that start with the letter, tracing the letter, finding the letter in a grid and other coloring pages with objects that start with that letter.

These little books are super useful reinforcing the different letters and giving kids different activities related to the letters.

If you do a letter of the day or letter of the week you can use a new book for each one, and then keep the copies in your reading center or in a basket where kids can look at them again.

And of course you can add in all the other letter activities you like, go on a scavenger hunt for items that start with that letter, read alphabet books, practice writing letters in rice or with pompoms or playdough or whatever sensory activities you like.

You can grab the free printables when you enter you email address at Life Over Cs, and check out her other great alphabet resources and activities while you are over there.

Do you have favorite activities for teaching letters to kids? I’d love to hear about them!

[Photo: Life Over Cs]

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