Regardless of age, she sounds like she is ready and excited! Go with it and see what she wants to make----turn her loose in your stash and have fun!

I've been asked to volunteer teaching sewing/quilting at my grand-niece and nephews school to replace their dearly loved teacher. It is a Montessori school, ages I believe, are 5-9 or so. I am a little worried-I don't know where to begin. Idon't think they have machines, so it will be all hand-work-which means sewing needles! Any suggestions??? I only had two boys, and no grand-kids yet, so have no experience teaching littlies!

My now 13 yr old started at about 3 to 4 yr old. She did some hand sewing and also some piecing on a very nice big sewing machine. The newer sewing machines seem easier for them to use. Ofcourse it looked like a very young child made it but now at 13 she is an aewsome quilter and is teaching her friends. Also she was only able to do little bits at a time. Before she started sewing I had her glue scraps (from cutting) on sheets of paper with a glue stick.

I taught my granddaughter to sew starting at age 4. For your age group, start with a simple tote bag. Pre cut the bags and using a pinwheel and sewing tracing paper, mark the seam allowance. The dots are where the children insert the needle. Hope this helps.

I started all the grandkids at around 5 or whenever they showed a real interest. (boys included) Just be really careful and aware that little fingers sometimes are fast. Most completed a quilt by the time they were 6 or 7. We did quilts about 45"x 55", so large enough for them to cuddle with. They were tied not quilted.

There is a great series of books for teaching young ones to sew. They are by Winky Cherry. The first one is "My First Sewing Book" and there are several more all with the "My First ______ Book".
http://www.palmerpletsch.com/childrenbooks.htm

I was able to take a seminar with Winky and she starts with small groups about age 5. I used this book's idea and techniques with a full second grade class, who were mostly Spanish speaking. 30+ kids with just me and their teacher to show them how to stitch. And trying to translate into words they could understand. By the end of the first hour every one of them was threading their own needle and tying the knot at the end.
And they enjoyed the project so much they asked for another one that we did as a Mother's Day project.

These are a wonderful way to teach children, either one on one or in small groups. (There are even manuals and a DVD at the end of the above link for helping one learn how to teach to kids.)
I am not affiliated with this publisher or the series but I have used it and very successfully. <G> (My junior high students saw what the little ones were doing and wanted to do it too..... so I set up some for them to do to. They loved it, both the boys and the girls.)

Have fun,
Pati, in Phx

My oldest dgd was 7 and the youngest dgd was 4. I started them on a piece of white paper with no thread and let them get the feel of the machine. Then drew some lines to follow til they felt comfortable. Both have made a number of quilts, kitty blankets, pincushions and pillows. Yana loves my little featherweight, but Jayde loves my machine with the fancy stitches.

My dad learned to hand sew when he was a little boy. So have at it. Their attention span is short but give it a try.

My daughter has been hand sewing a 4 patch for a while now. She was 4 when she started. She's done very well. I draw the sewing line for her and she does a really really good job staying on the line! I'm not quite ready to let her at my machine yet.

My dd is 6 and she just started to sew my mother bought her a brothers.My niece is 9 and just started.My dd has been helping me sew for a year or so.