My dd was 18 months old when she said, "Uppy mommy, my do." So I sat her on my lap and held her hand while she guided the fabric through the machine. She has a thin blanket that she hemmed and a polar fleece robe that she sewed. I was 3 when my sister piled encyclopedias on the sewing chair, sat me on them and said, "Don't tell mommy you're sewing on her machine because she'll think you're too little and we know you're not." My sister was 11 or 12 at the time and knew how to sew on the machine. I did too after a couple of hours. She even taught me how to wind a bobbin, put it in, thread the machine and the needle. So, IMHO, if she wants to learn, teach her. Before I went to kindergarten my oldest sister had taught me to sew on mom's machine, my mother had taught me to hand piece, grandma taught me to crochet, and my older twin sister's had taught me to embroider---I still have my two sets of pillow cases that were made before I turned 5.