If you want your child to have a hobby that will have a positive impact on their character development and mental growth, consider teaching them how to sew. Apart from allowing them to sew on a button, fix their toys or make a nice and original gift for someone, sewing can provide them with educational, physical, and mental benefits in an interesting and fun way. On top of that, it can also become a valuable skill in their lives, one which will prove itself useful over and over, all the way to their adult lives and further.
With that in mind, we can easily say that teaching your children how to sew is a very smart course of action and that they'll be very grateful to you for it once they grow up. In order to demonstrate the advantages of sewing, we have prepared this article which explains how exactly it benefits children and why. Having said that, let's take a look at the following list of benefits together.
1. They will develop fine motor skills
Children often have trouble when they have to do some precise work with their hands. This is relatively normal when they're small, but if it's left untreated, they might become very rough with their hand coordination. This could cause them problems when they are writing, playing, or using some kind of tools.
However, if they start sewing, these issues will be avoided altogether. Since it requires a gentle and precise hand movements, sewing helps them to develop fine motor skills appropriately. Kids who practice sewing will know how to use their fingers properly, how to move their hands with precision, and how to hold and use small items with ease.
The best part is that you can teach them handsewing with just a needle, thread and a piece of fabric. Once you notice that they've become very good at sewing by hand, don't be afraid to switch over to a machine. Get a kid friendly sewing machine and teach them the basics, without mounting the needle nor the thread. As soon as they get accustomed to using the machine, mount the needle and thread and let them sew away.
2. Sewing will help them build self-confidence and confidence in their skills
Learning a new skill and gradually mastering it can greatly improve a person's self-confidence. This is particularly true for kids, because they seek acknowledgement and praise, which is something that they can obtain from sewing. Once they realize that they have created something on their own, the very sense of accomplishment will help them to build self-confidence.
After that, they will also notice how much their skills have improved over time, which will result in them trusting their own capabilities. This will reflect on their other skills as well, further adding to their confidence level.
3. With sewing, they'll learn how to be patient
Most kids don't have a lot of patience, when they want something, they want it right away - waiting is unacceptable. Explaining that it's impossible for them to get the thing immediately could prove itself to be pointless.
But if they learn that from their own example, empirically, they'll perfectly understand that waiting is necessary sometimes. Sewing can teach them about patience in a subtle but very effective way. Once they realize that they can't sew before threading the needle, can't cut fabric before marking it, can't make shortcuts while stitches two pieces of fabric together and so on, they'll slowly but surely start learning how to be more patient.
4. Sewing will help them to practice communicating and follow instructions
Children can't learn how to sew on their own, they need someone to teach them and explain all about it to them. If you decide to do just that, at first, they might ignore your words and try to do their own thing, to sew in their own way. Naturally, that won't work so they'll eventually start listening to your instructions. In order to avoid failure, they will most likely start following your guidelines perfectly, which will also apply to your everyday lives, not just when it's sewing time.
If they don't understand what you're telling them to do, they'll try to express that as best as they can. In other words, they'll start improving their communicating skills by explaining the difficulties they're having. This too, will become useful in their everyday lives, because they'll be able to express their thoughts more easily and precisely at all times.
5. Sewing will make them use their imagination and creativity
Creativity and imagination go hand in hand with each other, that's a well-known fact. And since kids have a very powerful imagination, they can put it to good use with sewing. With its help, they can come up with very unique and fascinating ideas, maybe even some that are far better than those of adults.
The best part about this is the fact that they won't be able to neglect their creativity and imagination and let them deteriorate because sewing requires regular use and therefore improvement of both.
So, if your child who sews suggests a peculiar sewing project, let them try it out, it might turn out to be something really amazing and original. Either way, it will be something creative without a doubt.
Now it's time for us to make a brief recap of this topic before we part ways. Sewing is definitely a great hobby for kids because it will teach them how to create unique items, fix broken ones, or alter some of the clothes or toys they possess.
But sewing does more than just that since it also helps them to improve abilities like hand dexterity, communication skills, as well as their character traits like confidence, patience, and creativity.
In other words, it's one of the best hobbies a child could have.
Helen Spencer is the editor of the sewing blog HelloSewing.com and a seamstress of more than 4 years. When she is not researching and reviewing sewing machines and tools, she's making beautiful things out of scratch. She loves all things DIY- crafts, drawing, decorating, and above all – she simply loves sewing!
(Source: info.thinkfun.com )
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