We have some young men volunteers helping my hubby with a house we bought at a tax sale. The house has been empty for 3 years. The guys are just helping so they can learn some basic skills. DH informed them yesterday that they would have to learn to sew before they could use a power saw or any other power tool. (I had our boys learn to sew before they used a power tool.) He told them sewing a finger isn't near as bad as cutting something off. Then he told them I'm real good with any saw because of my sewing. (He has me make the cuts once in a while for siding or ceramic tiles) And he told them it was harder to sew because you have to coordinate your feet and your hands.
While a sewing machine is a power tool you push material into a saw and you let the machine pull the material into the sewing machine. I've seen guys try to sew and they like to try to pull the material through the machine.
I know I'm going to have them do the old 4H maze and maybe some dot to dot then I wonder about having them do some free motion. I also think they could learn to read and follow directions with the sewing. I'm thinking they could make nail pouches or bucket buddies. File keepers? like yeah they have files... Any other ideas?