When my granddaughter was 5, I started her with plastic canvas so she could get the hang of threading and holding a needle. Then at 7, she wanted to start stamped cross stitch.At around 8 0r 9 she started picking out a simple pattern and cutting it,but was still scared to use my sewing machine.She is 12 now and still hesitates, cause she tells me the machine goes too fast. I showed her the foot pedal and how I made it go fast and slow.But I'm not putting any pressure on her. Her real passion is getting out a graph pad ,colored pencils,and designing a quilt for me to sew. She likes to hand quilt. One of these days she'll use the machine.