moosie

I think an expanded enrichment activity is a great thing but your age group is far to young to have the fine motor skills requires to use a sewing machine. I'd pick up a bunch of those plastic holed embroidery bases they have all over Jo-Anns and WalMart and some colorful yarn and a bunch of plastic needles and teach them how to do 'lacing' as a start for hand-sewing.

If you do decide to use real hand sewing sharps and actual fabric and shears and possibly a sewing machine I would make absolutely certain every child engaging in this had a parent permission slip so if a kid sewed their finger there parents would have previously given permission. I'd also make sure that an adult was right with the child doing the sewing or better yet the child sat on the lap of the sewing person and just watched.

But my first profession was nursing so I tend to be a bit conservative after some of the amazing things I saw in the ER and the OR.