Good crochet kit for kids?

[gretchenindisguise]

A (9) has just decided he wants to learn how to crochet. What is a good kit for kids? Woobles? I feel like I heard those were actually hard.

[mala]

www.amazon.com/Taught-Myself-Crochet-Beginners-Kit/dp/B000WV84ZA

This is the kit I started with. If kiddo is a visual learner I would check to see if there are any groups or shops they cpuld check out with someone to teach in person. Realalisiclaly all you meed to start is yarn, a hook, and maybe a safty pin. And instructions which you can get off YouTube for free.

What do they want to make? Wearables? Stuffies?

[fancynewbeesly]

Feb 6, 2024 22:37:29 GMT -5 gretchenindisguise said:

A (9) has just decided he wants to learn how to crochet. What is a good kit for kids? Woobles? I feel like I heard those were actually hard.

I will preface this that my daughter is very crafty and picks up on things quickly. She is 12 and started a woobles kit about 3 weeks ago. She fell in love. The first one was not great-and she is a perfectionist. But she calls it the trial piece. Since that one every other crocheted piece is super adorable and cute. She taught herself to read patterns. She referenced the woobles stitch tutorials often. We got her the one kit and they also make a book of patterns which we got her. She spends hours crocheting now.

[gretchenindisguise]

Feb 6, 2024 22:41:29 GMT -5 mala said:

www.amazon.com/Taught-Myself-Crochet-Beginners-Kit/dp/B000WV84ZA

This is the kit I started with. If kiddo is a visual learner I would check to see if there are any groups or shops they cpuld check out with someone to teach in person. Realalisiclaly all you meed to start is yarn, a hook, and maybe a safty pin. And instructions which you can get off YouTube for free.

What do they want to make? Wearables? Stuffies?

Just stuffies. Maybe a beanie.

[expectantsteelerfan]

My dd (12) asked for crochet kits for Christmas, and she picked out one from Amazon that she wanted from us and opened on Christmas eve. She ended up having a HUGE tantrum because she worked on it for hours, including watching youtube tutorials, and couldn't 'get it'. She was worried everyone else in the family was going to get her yarn, and it would all be a waste. But luckily, my SIL got her a woobles kit, and she tried that the next day and finished the whole thing (minus the ears, it was the fox), then went on to do the project she had started from amazon (a chicken). She is hooked, and she has made a ton of stuffies for her friends, and her new thing is using the thicker chenille yarn to make bigger ones (an octopus is my fav. that she's made). So I do recommend the woobles, as long as it's one of the true beginner ones. But you might still want to do youtube videos of people doing those too.

fancynewbeesly, I meant to say after I saw your post on fb with your dd's, my dd is actually making an Olaf for her school musical to use as a prop and leaving it disconnected so they can 'build a snowman.' We had to buy the pattern from etsy (it was only a few dollars), but if your dd would like the pattern, send me a pm and I'll send it to you.

[mala]

Stuffies! Woobles is a decent place to start if you want to go that route. The thing with stuffies, though, is that they usually start with a "magic circle" and that can be very difficult to master. I recommend finding someone in person and local to teach that. Wobbles do that part for you, which is why they're so popular I think, since it's usually the trickiest part. In teaching, I find it's easier to get someone started with a project that is already underway and get them to master the single crochet stitch before trying to start their own piece. That way you're not trying to figure out two things at once. Which, again, is what wobbles do. Once they figure out what kind of yarn they like, invest in some good ergonomic hooks with padding at the appropriate size*.

*size is usually reccomended on the yarn package but for stuffies where you want a very dense fabric you want to size down at least one, maybe more, hook sizes.

[wildrice]

So I'm 32 years older than your daughter which makes a difference (LOL) but I thought the Woobles were not hard! The tutorial videos are really great - they really show you every step and exactly what it is supposed to look like once you make each stitch, so while I may have had to watch some of the videos multiple times, I never felt like I was on my own to figure anything out. They are really great!

I am now working on broadening to things like a scarf/hat and I think that the Woobles don't completely "teach you to crochet" because you only learn a limited number of stitches and don't learn how to do something that isn't a round shape, but I do think it is making it easier to learn other things now that I had those basics under my belt.

[tacokick]

Does your library system have any craft programming? Crochet is something a lot of people know how to do so even the generic crafty kid meet ups at my local library always seem to have someone crocheting and teaching others. That might be a better start than going in cold on a kit.

I know people who have loved the Woobles kits but then had problems making the leap to making anything that wasn’t small and round.

[litskispeciality]

I haven't tried any of the kits yet as they're a little pricey for my taste. I am a fan of getting kids into crafting and will check with my husband's sister about what our niece uses.

As far as beanies, I live for this Youtube video/pattern. I've made probably 10 of them, and I'm a pretty novice crocheter who's been crafting since 11, lol. I haven't used the Lion Brand yarn so I find mine might be just a tad looser on the top, but they've fit me and my H pretty well. www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjQYmwvwVqo. Also super easy and pretty fast. I've made a hat in about a (full) day if I had time.

You may want to purchase a round counter and/or a few stitch markers because the beanie for example will have you double crochet 10 rows. If I stop I have to write down where I am for the next time.