ButterCream...was the toy sewing machine you found at the yard sale a miniture Singer? cause I still have mine. Its older than dirt...but it still works...by battery, electricity (if I can find the adapter), or in desperate times when the lights went out it has a little hand crank. My mother paid $25 for it. It was an incentive gift when she bought her new Singer (which she still has and it still works like new) from Montgomery Wards. I had already been sewing on her old black Singer (so old it didn't have backstitch) for a couple years, but that Christmas I was absolutely thrilled beyond belief. Not only did I get my very own singer...but I got one of my dad's boot boxes (huge box!) filled with hand sewn Barbie clothes and a new Barbie to wear them. Mom even used some fabric from a khaki colored pair of elephant bell bottoms (remember those?) that she had cut off my sister's and made an identical pair for my new Barbie. It was the best Christmas ever and my most memorable one. I was all of 6 years old. Yeah, I can honestly say sewing with your mom makes for lasting, memories!! I've started my 6 yr old hand sewing, making simple drawstring bags, but she's not quite ready for machine sewing yet. You'll know when yours is ready...and she love every moment she spends sewing with you. Even if its straight stitch hand sewing!! I keep Alicia, my 4 yr old, busy with a simple weaving loom (the over under over under kind) while Jazz and I sew. She does have some plastic needles that I let her "sew" on plastic canvas with too. Maybe that would keep your younger one happy and feeling involved too.