Easy Kid Crochet Projects and Lesson Plans

Crocheters in America put their hooks and yarn to work throughout the month of March in honor of both National Craft Month and National Crochet Month. This is the time to teach someone to crochet as led by the Crochet Guild of America, an organization whose mission is to educate the public about crocheting and to preserve the art. Providing free crochet patterns and supply discounts to its members, the Crochet Guild of America is known for its Crochet-Along meet up groups that are tailored to adults. In addition to educating adults about crocheting, the Crochet Guild of America provides resources for teaching kids to crochet on its website. Of main value, Girl Scout groups, camp programs, and art/textile classes will find March to be an ideal time to introduce kids to easy crochet lesson plans and projects as reviewed below.

Crochet Bookmarks

Art/textile students of age seven and up will find the lesson plan of crocheting bookmarks to be very easy and quick to complete. Crochet bookmarks make an excellent craft in that they are more durable than paper bookmarks that wear out over time. A great free crochet bookmark pattern published in By Kids, For Kids is the "Crochet 'House Colors' Scarf Bookmark" that measures 11 inches by 1 inch. The required materials include a size J-10 crochet hook for the bookmark and a size F-5 crochet hook for the fringe. The pattern also recommends Wool Ease yarn in two complementary shades such as one's school colors. Especially convenient, the small amount of yarn required for this project is ideal for the school's art budget.

Crochet Book Covers

Another easy education-related project for kids is crochet book covers. One such pattern is "Crocheted Book Sox or Crochet Book Cover" by Twila Lenoir. Ideally, the required materials include any size crochet hook, any yarn type, and thread elastic. The pattern allows kids to craft custom-sized book covers by crocheting a chain that measures the same width of one's book, then creating the cover's length by single crocheting and turning.

Crochet Granny Square Afghan Rugs

An ideal crochet group activity that requires a minimal amount of yarn per student is a large crochet granny square rug. A crochet rug comes in handy when students sit on the floor during video time, story time, or homework time, all of which I observed when working with elementary-aged students at schools and after-school programs. Having experience crocheting granny squares, I would teach this activity to students of ages nine and up whose attention levels are more focused. Depending on the number of students in a class or group, this project would require each student to make several basic crochet granny squares using worsted weight yarn. A hypothetical granny square rug measuring 49 inches by 63 inches is composed of 49 seven inch by nine inch rectangular granny squares. Crochet teachers will easily find basic granny square patterns such as one by Linda Permann on the Craft Stylish blog. After each student completes a couple of granny squares, the teacher will then join them to make the Afghan rug.

Overall, these are only a few kids' lesson plan and project ideas that will expose young students to the basics of crocheting. These activities are ideal not only during National Craft Month (National Crochet Month), but all year-round especially during summer camps and fall art/textile classes. Passing crochet on to the next generation is definitely the way to keep it alive.

Sources

"Crochet Guild of America."Crochet Guild of America.

"Free Crochet Pattern: "Crochet 'House Colors' Scarf Bookmark."Lion Brand.

Lenoir, Twila. "Crocheted Book Sox or Crochet Book Cover."All Free Crafts.