I taught my daughter to hand sew when she was 4, and then when she was 9 she wanted to go to the quilt store for one of their childrens machine sewing classes. She learned to sew on one of their regular machines. The first thing they said--"Never put your fingers in front of the needle, only to the sides when sewing".
They used the Milligan/Smith book on Sewing Machine Fun, and my daughter spent part of the first class using an un-threaded machine following the lines in the different pages of the book. Straight lines, pivoting, curvy lines, etc.
I don't remember the order, but during this 4 session class she made a draw-sting bag using 2 fat quarters that she picked out, a hamburger with bun, pickle, onion, etc., and a Halloween tote. Maybe other things I can't remember. All from the book.
This was 15 years ago, and the book is out of print, but they have a "best of sewing machine fun" available. Here is a link that includes photos of some of the projects. The hamburger is there!
http://books.google.com/books?id=_Hh...itesec=reviews